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Saturday, December 26, 2009

Ind. Courts - ND Indiana jurors contact federal prosecutor via Facebook after trial, with congratulations

Dan Hinkel has the story today in the NWI Times. How did he find out about it? According to the report:

After [Assistant U.S. Attorney Jil] Trumbull-Harris notified [Judge Rudy] Lozano of the first Facebook contact, attorney Arlington Foley, who represents Stanton Cephus, filed a motion asking Lozano to hold a hearing exploring whether the foreman developed a bias toward the prosecution during the trial.

Lozano denied Foley's request, noting the messages were not sent during the trial. Lozano cited 7th Circuit Court of Appeals decisions in declining to probe the two jurors' thought processes during trial.

Lozano shot down Foley's hearing request in a sealed order briefly offered last week on the federal court system's online database. The order was pulled off the Web shortly after prosecutors were told it had been exposed.

From the beginning of the lengthy story:
HAMMOND | Judges already instruct jurors to avoid doing a lot of things during trials -- don't read the news coverage, don't chat with witnesses or lawyers outside court, and so forth -- but the online social media revolution may necessitate one more instruction:

Don't "friend" the prosecutors, the police or the judge on Facebook.

Less than three hours after jurors in Hammond federal court returned guilty verdicts Nov. 20 against accused pimps Justin "Tootie" Cephus, Stanton "Stan" Cephus and Jovan D. "Geo" Stewart, the jury foreman contacted the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jill Trumbull-Harris, on the social networking Web site Facebook, according to court records.

Trumbull-Harris notified federal Senior Judge Rudy Lozano the juror told her through Facebook he had "a lot to say to you and I hope that I get an opportunity to do such. Congratulations."

A second juror also contacted Trumbull-Harris on Facebook to wish her a "very blessed and Happy Thanksgiving," according to court papers. Trumbull-Harris notified Lozano the juror told her she "truly enjoyed listening" to the prosecution in the case. That juror described the prosecutors, Trumbull-Harris and Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Benson, as "fantastic speakers," according to court records.

Available court records do not explain whether the jurors asked Trumbull-Harris to add them to her online networks as Facebook "friends," but that step isn't necessary to send messages on the site. * * *

This local court battle illustrates a second consequence of Facebook's demographic shift away from college students toward working adults: federal agents and prosecutors can now be found online, and they take different stances toward hiding their information.

A Facebook user chooses how much information from his or her personal profile page is revealed to the general public and to that person's authorized Facebook friends. Trumbull-Harris' Facebook page reveals almost nothing about the federal prosecutor to people she has not accepted as her friends. A passing visitor to her page can only view her profile picture and her list of online friends.

One of Trumbull-Harris' Facebook friends is an FBI special agent who, like many agents, has testified in court against federal defendants accused of brutal violence. That agent leaves much more information public. Visitors, even those the agent has not accepted as friends, can see pictures of the agent's infant daughter, who is mentioned by name in public view. * * *

For lawyers who use Facebook or are considering signing up, New York-based online legal marketing businessman and lawyer Joshua Fruchter advises you avoid "friending" clients or judges. A lawyer should use social media either for personal or professional reasons, not for both, Fruchter said.

"You really can't mix the two," he said. "Or you're asking for trouble."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 26, 2009 08:30 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts