Juries

Katrina Hospital Murder Case Closed, But Civil Cases Continue

The criminal case against two nurses and a doctor accused of murdering hospital patients while working under horrendous conditions during Hurricane Katrina is now at an end, following a grand jury’s refusal to indict Dr. Anna Pou last month, prosecutors told the judge in the case yesterday. But it appears…

Aug 7, 2007 5:29 PM CDT

Bloomberg Not a Juror

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg showed up for jury duty yesterday and answered voir dire questions for an asbestos case. He wasn’t selected. Judge Helen Freedman said Bloomberg would be treated like any other juror, the New York Post reports. When asked if he would take over deliberations if chosen,…

Aug 7, 2007 2:54 PM CDT

NY Mayor Shows Up for Jury Duty

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg showed up for jury duty today and was being considered as a juror for an asbestos case. Bloomberg, who was accompanied by security guards and press aides, appeared slightly bored, the Associated Press reports. He gave an autograph to a woman who requested it. “It’s…

Aug 6, 2007 4:20 PM CDT

Verdict Stands Despite Lawyer-Foreman

A New Jersey judge has found that a lawyer and state senator who served on a jury did not improperly influence his fellow jurors, despite what he said in an article about his experiences. Sen. Robert Martin wrote for the New Jersey Law Journal last December about serving as a…

Aug 2, 2007 12:34 PM CDT

Shopping Leads to Jury Service

Only about 46 percent of people summoned for jury duty show up, and court systems are trying to do something about it. In Sanford, N.C., sheriff’s deputies rounded up some jurors in March by dispatching sheriff’s deputies to the parking lots of Food Lion and Wal-Mart, the Associated Press reports.…

Jul 30, 2007 2:58 PM CDT

Jurors Questioned re Masturbation Habits

Jurors were questioned about their own personal masturbation habits today at the outset of a Florida trial in which they must determine if a 20-year-old inmate is guilty of masturbating while alone in his jail cell. In response to a defense lawyer’s questioning, all nine men among the prospective jurors…

Jul 25, 2007 9:54 PM CDT

Are New Justices Rewriting Case Law?

Two new members of the U.S. Supreme Court reportedly have lost no time in overturning a number of settled precedents. And among those taking note of the situation are members of Congress, who are thinking about looking into whether the justices said one thing during confirmation hearings and did something…

Jul 25, 2007 9:22 PM CDT

No Murder Charges for Katrina Doctor

A grand jury in New Orleans has refused to indict a doctor accused of murdering four hospitalized patients by having them injected with a lethal drug cocktail in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. However, a prosecutor said after the announcement of the grand jury’s findings that investigators in her office…

Jul 24, 2007 6:56 PM CDT

Murderer Loses, Jurors Win Wedding

A murder trial led to matrimony for two Queens, N.Y., jurors who met while sitting on the same jury panel and are to be married next month by the presiding judge in the case. Given all the time that panel members spend together—while under strict instructions to say nothing about…

Jul 17, 2007 12:30 AM CDT

Jury Deadlocked in Conrad Black Case

After nine days of deliberation and a three-month trial, a Chicago jury in the Conrad Black case told the judge today that it’s deadlocked. In a note sent to the judge in the federal case, and subsequently read in court, the jury said it can’t reach a unanimous verdict on…

Jul 10, 2007 10:42 PM CDT

Too Few Minorities in Manhattan Jury Pools

Whites are overrepresented in Manhattan jury pools, a study has found. Whites of all ethnicities make up 78 percent of potential jurors, even though they are only 54 percent of the population, according to a story about the study in the New York Times. Hispanics made up 6.3 percent of…

Jun 27, 2007 1:20 PM CDT

NYC Jury: Book Scheme Was a Scam

Counsel for Laura Albert said she met her contractual obligation. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t a male prostitute, her defense contended, nor that the book she wrote, “Sarah,” was actually fiction rather than non-fiction. She entered into a contract to sell Antidote International Films Inc. the movie rights to…

Jun 25, 2007 6:23 PM CDT

Another Big Defense Win in Paint Case

Now is apparently the time to be a defense lawyer representing a paint manufacturer in big-bucks litigation over injuries allegedly caused by lead-based products manufactured decades ago. Hard on the heels of recent defense victories in lead paint lawsuits in Missouri and New Jersey, a jury in Milwaukee, Wisc., found…

Jun 23, 2007 1:41 AM CDT

NYC Jurors Decide: Was Scheme to Portray Fiction as Non-Fiction a Scam?

Was a literary hoax a fraud? That is the question a federal jury in New York City began deciding today, in a case brought by a movie production company to recover money it paid writer Laura Albert for rights to her alleged non-fiction book “Sarah.” The problem is, Sarah was…

Jun 22, 2007 11:13 PM CDT

Sentencing Guidelines ‘Here to Stay’

A decision by the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday reinforces the impact of sentencing guidelines, deemed to be advisory in an opinion two years ago. The court held that appeals courts reviewing sentences imposed within the guidelines range may presume the penalty is reasonable. Rita v. United States, No. 06–5754 (PDF).…

Jun 22, 2007 12:29 PM CDT