« Ind. Decisions - Courts weighs interests of a 9-year-old boy awaiting adoption against the parental rights of his previously incarcerated parents | Main | Law - "Justice Dept. nomination becomes proxy fight for Supreme Court battle " »

Friday, May 15, 2009

Courts - Another reason to ban cellphones in court rooms?

The story by Alana Roberts of the Daily Business Review is headlined "Mistrial Declared Over Executive's Texting From Witness Stand." It begins:

For future reference, do not read texts from your boss while on the witness stand. In fact, don't text at all.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Scott Silverman declared a mistrial in a civil fraud case Wednesday after being informed a witness on the stand in his courtroom had engaged in text-messaging while the judge spoke with attorneys during a sidebar conference. The dispute is over the sale of condo tower in North Miami Beach.

While the judge and attorneys conferred, a courtroom spectator passed a note to a defense attorney saying the witness, Sky Development chief operating officer Gavin Sussman, appeared to be text-messaging Sky chief executive Yizhak Toledano at the plaintiff table.

Vistaview attorney William Petros, a partner at Coral Gables-based Petros & Elegant, said the incident occurred while the judge and lawyers for both sides met at the bench on the third day of trial.

Petros asked for another sidebar and relayed his suspicions. The judge asked Sussman if he'd been text-messaging, and he admitted he and Toledano texted twice about Sussman's testimony, Petros said.

One message from Toledano to Sussman said: "We never filed a lawsuit against seller. These people developed the site 40 years ago, in 40 years and know every corner." It wasn't clear from a transcript who sent the second text saying, "We maybe got this document after Sept. 7 when the bank discovered the problem."

Petros asked for a mistrial, which the judge granted.

Before that, [Judge] Silverman had engaged in a heated exchange with Toledano.

"Let me be really frank about this," the judge said. "I never had this happen before. This is completely outrageous, absolutely outrageous."

Toledano responded, "It was on a break."

There is much more.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 15, 2009 10:08 AM
Posted to Courts in general