Calif. Lawyer Suspended Over Trial Blogging While Serving as Juror
A 40-year-old California attorney has had his law license suspended for 45 days over a trial blog he wrote while serving as a juror.
Because of a blog post by Frank Russell Wilson, an appeals court reversed and remanded the felony burglary case, reports the California Bar Journal.
Although reportedly warned by the judge not to discuss the case, orally or in writing, Wilson apparently made a lawyerly distinction concerning blogs: “Nowhere do I recall the jury instructions mandating I can’t post comments in my blog about the trial,” he writes, before forging on with unflattering descriptions of both the judge and the defendant. He also failed to identify himself as a lawyer to the trial participants, the bar journal notes.
The article doesn’t include any comment from Wilson, who apparently was not in practice and was working for a wireless technology company at the time of the trial. He cooperated with the ethics investigation and had no prior disciplinary record, the article states.
Hat tip: Legal Blog Watch and Legal Profession Blog.
Related earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Calif. Lawyer Disbarred Over Jury Vote”
ABAJournal.com: “New Mich. Jury Rule: No Texts, Tweets or Google Searches”
ABAJournal.com: “Judge to Mob Trial Lawyer: Chill Blogging”
