Juries

Ordered to Wear ‘Spit Guard’ at Trial After Targeting Attorney, Defendant Looks Like Hannibal Lecter

A defendant in a Florida rape trial is going to sit in front of the jury looking more than a bit like Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs after a judge ordered him to wear a “spit guard” throughout the proceeding that covers his nose and the lower…

Mar 22, 2011 6:18 PM CDT

Judge Cites Privacy Rights, Keeps Juror Names a Secret Until End of Barry Bonds Trial

The federal judge presiding over the perjury trial of Barry Bonds in San Francisco won’t release the names of the jurors until after the verdict. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston cited a ruling by another federal judge who kept juror names secret until the end of the corruption trial of…

Mar 22, 2011 12:14 PM CDT

Retired Prof Indicted for Handing Out Jury Nullification Pamphlets Near Federal Courthouse

Since 2009, Julian Heicklen has been handing out material urging prospective jurors to vote their conscience at various courthouses. He says he often holds a “Jury Info” sign to help connect him to the right people, but has never sought to influence any specific case. Now the retired chemistry professor…

Feb 25, 2011 11:00 PM CST

Woman Who Got Weekly Calls from Work During Her FMLA Leave Can Make Her Case in Court

Employers who pressure sick employees into returning to work early may face legal trouble. In Arkansas, a legal dispute between a hospital and a former staff member is clarifying the line between asking about ill employees and pestering them to return to work, the Ohio Employer’s Law Blog says. A…

Feb 23, 2011 11:19 PM CST

Ind. Judge Orders 711 People to Come to Court to Explain Why They Didn’t Complete Jury Questionnaire

An Indiana judge has created a stir by ordering 711 people to come to court to explain why they didn’t fill out jury questionnaires. In fact, it appears that some did turn in the forms belatedly, and others may have moved out of state to go to school or work.…

Feb 23, 2011 4:20 PM CST

Philadelphia Man Acquitted After Using Hair Defense

Sometimes the best legal defense is the hairy kind. A Bucks County jury acquitted a Philadelphia man accused of robbing a convenience store after it was argued that his stiff hair didn’t match the disheveled locks of the man in the surveillance footage, reports the Associated Press. Timothy Corbett was…

Feb 19, 2011 3:40 AM CST

Google Transforms Jury Selection Process

Some lawyers, surreptitiously searching sites to uncover the personal details of potential jurors, are instigating a privacy debate and raising questions about whether the online vetting process has enough court supervision. Before selecting jurors, lawyers conduct in-depth searches, delving into individuals’ online identities to ascertain how they are likely to…

Feb 18, 2011 9:19 PM CST

Online ‘Jurors’ Settle Everyday Disputes on New JabberJury Website

Is your spouse hogging the new car? Or refusing to do the dishes? Now you can take your dispute to an online jury of your peers at a new website called JabberJury.com. Fast Company calls the website “The People’s Court for the Facebook generation,” while a press release dubs it…

Feb 17, 2011 4:10 PM CST

Jurors Less Likely to Convict Defendants Wearing Glasses, Say Lawyers and 2008 Study

Do juries take passes on criminal defendants who wear glasses? Criminal defense lawyers apparently believe it’s the case, the New York Daily News reports. Increasingly they are asking their clients to wear glasses during jury trials. The Daily News spoke to lawyer Harvey Slovis, who said defendants don’t look like…

Feb 14, 2011 2:16 PM CST

Angry Jurors Hope to Give Acquitted Teen Their Jury Pay

At least three jurors who acquitted a Cleveland teen are so angry about the prosecution that they plan to give the defendant their $100 jury pay if he obtains a high school equivalency degree. The 19-year-old defendant, Demrick McCloud, has been in jail since his Oct. 13 arrest, the Cleveland…

Feb 10, 2011 2:49 PM CST

Judge Saves Her Vacation by Putting Jury to Work at 3 a.m.

When a murder trial last year that was expected to take four weeks continued nearly two weeks longer, putting a Nevada judge’s vacation at risk, the judge resolved the problem by having the jury begin deliberations at 3 a.m. Clark County District Court Judge Valorie Vega also criticized attorneys on…

Feb 8, 2011 6:15 PM CST

Juror Study Shows More of a BlackBerry Effect than a ‘CSI’ Effect

The chief judge of Washtenaw County in Ann Arbor, Mich., had heard a lot about the so-called CSI effect—said to increase jurors’ expectations that technology can solve crimes with lightning speed, just as it happens on the television show CSI. But he hadn’t seen the evidence. So Judge Donald Shelton…

Feb 8, 2011 12:00 PM CST

Nonprofit Considers Suit re Judge’s Ban on Jury ‘Education’ Material Outside Courthouses

A storm is gathering over a Florida judge’s order banning distribution of jury “education” material outside Orange and Osceola courthouses by a national nonprofit group. Attorney Roger Roots, who sits on the advisory board of the Fully Informed Jury Association, says it is seeking Florida counsel to advise on whether…

Feb 4, 2011 5:51 PM CST

Strong Words: A Sense of Injustice Can Empower a Jury to Undo a Wrong for Your Client

Illustration by John Schmelzer It took Mike Reynolds and Sandra Garcia—two bright young lawyers—less than three weeks after starting work at Windstrom & Crusher to decide that the firm was both uncivilized and unprofessional. They gave notice on Monday that they were leaving, and on Friday morning they were all…

Feb 1, 2011 8:26 AM CST

Book ‘Clutch’ Cites David Boies as Exemplar of Success

Major sports figures come to mind as newsman Paul Sullivan talks about the qualities that distinguish those who succeed under extreme pressure in his appropriately titled book, Clutch. There are five key characteristics of clutch players, Sullivan writes: focus, discipline, adaptability, being present in the moment, and being driven by…

Feb 1, 2011 7:30 AM CST