Juries

Kicked off a grand jury, former ACLU lawyer seeks reinstatement

A former lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri has filed legal action seeking reinstatement as a St. Louis County grand juror after a judge allegedly kicked him off at the request of the prosecutor. The petition for a writ of prohibition, filed with the Missouri Court of…

Oct 19, 2015 7:14 AM CDT

Potential juror who disregarded judge’s order is sentenced to additional jury duty

A potential juror in Florida who admitted she disregarded a judge’s order to refrain from reading about a case will have to pay for her mistake with additional jury duty. The potential juror, Alisia Carnes, will have to show up for jury duty every other Monday until she is selected…

Oct 13, 2015 10:30 AM CDT

Dewey juror goes to the emergency room; judge will ask for partial verdict

Updated: A juror in the trial of three former leaders of Dewey & LeBoeuf reported that she was in the emergency room on Wednesday after experiencing vertigo. Judge Robert Stolz of Manhattan said he spoke with the juror and she expected to return to court in the afternoon, the New…

Oct 7, 2015 11:00 AM CDT

Supreme Court declines appeal citing juror’s racial slur in post-conviction affidavit

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to consider whether the courts can consider a juror’s affidavit that uses a racial slur to describe the defendant who was sentenced to death in 1997. The court denied cert Monday in the case of death-row inmate Kenneth Fults, who contends he was deprived…

Oct 6, 2015 11:19 AM CDT

Pennsylvania AG Kathleen Kane faces new perjury charge for alleged denial of secrecy obligation

The legal troubles are building for Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane. Kane was charged in August with lying about a grand jury leak and suspended from law practice in September. Now she is facing new charges stemming from her claim that she had no secrecy obligation with regard to a…

Oct 1, 2015 11:00 AM CDT

How social emotions can influence jury deliberations

I am driving to the law school where I work, listening to Sirius radio. The Bridge plays music from the 1960s and '70s. Carly Simon sings "You're so vain. I bet you think this song is about you, don't you, don't you?" with Mick Jagger adding a sneering background vocal in unison.

Oct 1, 2015 7:50 AM CDT

Still no verdict in Dewey case as jurors ask judge about procedure for undecided members

Manhattan jurors deliberating the fate of three former leaders of Dewey & LeBoeuf sent a note to the judge on Monday, asking what kind of procedure should be followed when there are undecided jurors. Judge Robert Stolz told jurors there is no procedure to follow, though every juror must have…

Sep 29, 2015 9:33 AM CDT

Kid Rock shows for jury duty, promises to give police ‘the benefit of the doubt’

Called for jury duty in Michigan, Kid Rock arrived in the Oakland County Court house in Pontiac on Thursday and answered questions about his fitness to serve in a murder trial. Noting his many law enforcement friends, the singer, whose real name is Robert James Ritchie, promised to give police…

Sep 18, 2015 7:00 AM CDT

Baked cookies and no-sidebars rule are part of federal judge’s jury-centric approach to trials

U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett of Sioux City, Iowa, says he’s taking a WWJW approach to jury trials, defining the acronym to mean “What Would Jurors Want?” Bennett says he knows of only one published juror bill of rights, posted on the Arizona Supreme Court website. Now he’s proposing his…

Sep 14, 2015 6:30 AM CDT

Leak of discipline case against Pennsylvania AG taints jury trial in criminal case, her counsel says

After confirmation this week of earlier news reports that lawyer disciplinary authorities in Pennsylvania are seeking to suspend the law license of the state attorney general, her counsel is blasting the public revelation of a process that is supposed to be confidential. “The leaks about a disciplinary proceeding to suspend…

Sep 10, 2015 11:45 AM CDT

Conviction is overturned because juror expressed alarm about black men in her neighborhood

A New Jersey appeals court has reversed the carjacking conviction of two black men because a judge failed to remove a juror who revealed a “deeply rooted, latent racial bias” after being seated. The New Jersey Appellate Division said its opinion was intended to provide guidance of “a zero tolerance…

Sep 2, 2015 8:06 AM CDT

Judge refuses to release names of jurors in Boston Marathon bombing trial

The federal judge who oversaw the trial of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has refused a request to release the names of the jurors. U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. said he would eventually release the names, but not until some of the ongoing legal proceedings in the case…

Aug 25, 2015 5:03 PM CDT

Advocacy group sues Denver over courthouse leafleting arrests

A nonprofit advocacy group is suing the city and county of Denver, Colorado, over the arrest last month of two individuals on felony charges as they were distributing literature about jury service at the area’s main criminal courthouse. At issue are efforts by the Fully Informed Jury Association and others…

Aug 20, 2015 9:30 AM CDT

Found not guilty, murder defendant wins only a mistrial after jury is polled

Charged with fatally shooting a neighbor, in front of the man’s family, it appeared that Eric Lydell Smith had been acquitted by a Georgia jury this week. Prosecutors in the Clayton County asked that the jurors be polled, and the first 11 responses agreed with the verdict that Eric Lydell…

Aug 19, 2015 2:45 PM CDT

New California law bars grand juries from deciding cop charges in excessive force cases

California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law two measures aimed at increasing transparency when police are accused of using excessive force or behaving badly. One of the new laws bars grand juries from deciding whether to charge police officers in cases of excessive or deadly force, the San Jose…

Aug 12, 2015 1:21 PM CDT