You might want to tweet yourself. Or at least send a direct message. To another juror. But don’t communicate with anyone on the “outside.” Otherwise, you might cause a mistrial.
In Fayetteville, Arkansas, a circuit court juror’s postings to Twitter are the subject of a possible mistrial of a $12.6 million judgment.
“Juror Johnathan” (aka Johnathan Powell) is the juror who commented on the trial via his smartphone. He sent 8 messages that said things like
Thanks to Powell’s use of Twitter during the trial, the motion for mistrial alleges that he was able to research the case and communicate with others outside the jury. It would seem that justice was served for the two investors in the company – Mark Deihl and William Nystrom – before Powell’s use of Twitter went public. Russell Wright, the principal owner of Stoam Holdings, didn’t even show up in court to dispute the claims.
I’m all about incorporating social media into your daily life, but I think taking your smartphone into a trial probably isn’t a good idea. Especially when doing so can compromise an entire trial and a huge settlement for investors done wrong.
What’s the public opinion out there on this issue? Was Powell in the wrong? Did the court drop the ball in not confiscating his phone?
Would love to hear other’s thoughts on this.
that guy is definitely in the wrong and should be put up to trial as well. common sense man. also, that was completely insider info.
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If you bothered to read anything other than this post you’d realize that message was sent after the trial was over. That makes it public info.
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The same thing happened just today in Philadelphia!
A juror deliberating on corruption charges against former Sen. Vincent Fumo discussed the case on Facebook and Twitter and even promised a “big announcement” today. The defense filed an emergency motion to the court after learning of this persons posts. I smell mistrial.
What a shame. We finally convict a totally corrupt politician and because this juror couldn’t contain him or herself, Fumo may walk free.
And so it starts… where there once was little case law to cover social media outlets in the courtroom or during a trial; new legislation will have to be constructed to avoid these [new] gray areas.
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@ Matthew: And if YOU actually bothered to read the post, you’d realize he sent eight messages, some during the trial.
Yeah, the guy was wrong, but I think the court probably should have confiscated the cell phone in the first place. My instinct would probably be to Twitter about it or the like as well, although I’m pretty sure I would have thought about what I was Tweeting and not given out anything about the trial itself, just the process.
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