Juries

Chief justice orders mediation for top prosecutor and judge in dispute over Facebook posts

The chief justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court has ordered a Jefferson County judge and the commonwealth’s attorney into mediation to resolve a contentious dispute sparked by an issue over the racial composition of juries. Initially up for review by Kentucky’s top court was whether Circuit Judge Olu Stevens had…

Dec 2, 2015 1:10 PM CST

New salvos fired in jury nullification battle include felony case over pamphlet handout

A Michigan man is facing a felony obstruction of justice charge, in the latest salvo in an ongoing national battle over the extent to which jurors should be informed of their right to vote their conscience, regardless of applicable law. Keith Wood was also charged with misdemeanor jury tampering for…

Dec 1, 2015 2:15 PM CST

Jury instructions critical in trial of former top lawmaker over $4M in legal referral fees

As closing arguments began Monday in the federal corruption case of a former top New York lawmaker, observers said jury instructions, along with what prosecutors and defense lawyers say, will play a major role in determining whether Sheldon Silver is found guilty. Still a member of the New York Assembly,…

Nov 23, 2015 1:00 PM CST

Juror is fined $1K for posting on Facebook and causing mistrial

Add another name to the growing list of jurors sanctioned for social media use during trial, in violation of the court rules. “Dying from boredom” while serving as a juror in a New York City robbery case in September, Kimberly Ellis couldn’t resist posting on her emotional state and details…

Nov 4, 2015 4:30 PM CST

Former ACLU lawyer should not have been removed as grand juror, appeals court rules

A former lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union was wrongly removed as a grand jury member after the prosecutor complained about his participation in a lawsuit against his office, a Missouri appeals court has ruled. In a decision (PDF) issued Friday, the appeals court said Judge Steven Goldman of…

Nov 4, 2015 6:15 AM CST

9th Circuit panel vacates death row inmate’s conviction because of biased jury selection

An appellate court has tossed aside a 29-year-old guilty verdict and death sentence against an African-American inmate due to racial bias. The Sacramento Bee reported on Monday that a divided three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has upheld a lower court ruling vacating…

Oct 27, 2015 12:30 PM CDT

Is Batson workable? Studies show association between race and peremptories

A case set for argument in the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 2 returns to the issue of the use of race in jury selection. Georgia death-row inmate Timothy Foster claims prosecutors violated the Constitution by using highlighter on the names of prospective black jurors and using peremptory challenges to…

Oct 26, 2015 10:55 AM CDT

Was judge right to dismiss jury due to lack of black members? Top state court to decide

For years, a commission in Jefferson County, Kentucky, has been monitoring the number of blacks on juries, which is consistently lower than their representation in the county’s general population. “It’s a problem,” said state Court of Appeals Judge Denise Clayton, who heads the Racial Fairness commission, composed of local judges,…

Oct 26, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Judge gives juror 5 days, fines her $500 for doing legal research during trial

A Georgia juror was sentenced to five days in jail for contempt of court and fined $500 on Wednesday because she admittedly did legal research in a criminal case. Judge James Blanchard Jr. found out about the problem when the jury in the Richmond County Superior Court robbery case sent…

Oct 23, 2015 7:25 AM CDT

Jurors and others unconvinced Dewey & LeBoeuf management was a crime

After four months of trial and more than three weeks of jury deliberation, a fraud and larceny trial against three former leaders of a shuttered BigLaw firm ended badly Monday from the prosecution’s standpoint—not a single conviction on any of the approximately 100 counts collectively faced by the Dewey &…

Oct 21, 2015 4:45 PM CDT

Jury in Dewey case ‘hopelessly deadlocked’ after 22 days; judge declares mistrial

Updated: Twice before, the Manhattan jury deciding a criminal case against former leaders of Dewey & LeBoeuf have said the group was having difficulty deciding the case. But the court encouraged the jury to forge on, and each time it reached a verdict on some of the counts. On Monday,…

Oct 19, 2015 4:06 PM CDT

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