Jury Tells Judge of Member's Web Research in Murder Case; Alternate Is Seated for New Deliberations
After a week of deliberations, a Boston jury has been told to start their discussions anew in the case of a man charged with killing three adults and a small child and leaving a fifth victim paralyzed in a robbery-related shooting in 2010.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Locke also dismissed one juror and replaced him with an alternate after learning that the man had done online ballistics research and shared it with the other jurors hearing the case of Dwayne Moore, according to the Associated Press and NECN.
The juror’s Internet research was brought to the court’s attention after the jury foreperson sent a note to the judge.
“It’s a testament to the jurors who obey their oath that many of them immediately and forcefully chastised the juror who had done research,” the judge said. He reportedly spoke with the jury members individually before seating the alternate juror and sending the reconstituted panel back to start again.
A previous trial ended in a deadlock for Moore and the acquittal of a co-defendant.
Additional coverage:
Boston Globe: “Star witness assailed in Mattapan murders”
