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Sunday, February 28, 2010
Courts - "Finding Untainted Jurors in the Age of the Internet"
An article today by Adam Liptak of the NY Times -- here are some quotes:
It has been two decades since the Supreme Court has considered a major change-of-venue case, and its jurisprudence is still rooted in decisions based on small communities dominated by a single local newspaper and perhaps a trio of local television news programs. The law has been slow to adapt to a more general, more intense and yet more atomized media environment.And here is the ending:How potential jurors become informed in the Internet era, experts in jury behavior said, cut in two directions. It may now be harder than ever for defendants to find wholly untainted jurors in their own communities. At the same time, a change of venue in a truly high-profile case is less likely than ever to solve the problem.
[M]any judges and experts in jury behavior say it is not particularly difficult to find unbiased – indeed, profoundly uninformed – jurors.“This may come as a surprise to lawyers and judges,” the full United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit wrote in an unsigned decision affirming the convictions of top aides of President Richard Nixon in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, “but is simply a fact of life that matters which interest them may be less fascinating to the public generally.”
Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 28, 2010 06:00 PM
Posted to Courts in general