San Francisco Jury Struggles With Whether Bear Was “Disturbed”
Hard to define, but you know it when you see it.
Legal System
Juror Who Caused Mistrial With Online Research Must Pay Jury Fees
Paul Christiansen, who caused a mistrial in March by doing his own research on the defendant and disclosing it to other jurors, has been fined $1,200 by a court in Newbury, New Hampshire. Jurors, of course, are instructed not to do…
Appropriate-Shoe-Motion Case Ends in Mistrial After Jurors Read About Motion
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a case in Florida in which the plaintiff's attorney had filed a motion to compel defense counsel to wear appropriate shoes. Bill Bone argued in the motion that it was "well known…
How to Avoid Jury Duty, #7: Die
A woman in Arlington, Washington, said her husband would not be reporting for jury duty as ordered on June 24, because he had been dead since 2005. Finally, an absolutely ironclad excuse for getting out of jury duty. County officials…
Motion to Compel Defense Counsel To Wear Appropriate Shoes
Our lead trial counsel has a "lucky tie" that he wears every day (or at least he did during jury selection) even though it's getting a little threadbare. This is a fairly common habit among trial attorneys, and I haven't…
The Verdict is In: Juror Wanted to Go to Jackson Memorial
As you may have heard, Michael Jackson passed away recently, and a memorial service for him was held on Tuesday here in Los Angeles. (I am normally located either in San Francisco or in my underground lair, but am in…
“Just Couldn’t Take” The Boredom, Says Juror Who Went Home
Jury duty may look interesting on TV, but then TV makes it look like it only lasts about ten minutes or so. Even the most interesting case involves a fair number of boring interludes, each of which typically lasts a…
Dog-Scrotum Observation Preferable to Jury Service, Declares Citizen
Continuing with the theme of ways to get out of jury service, here's one that was tried in January 2009 by a busy citizen of Gallatin County, Montana. You may want to take this down and copy it onto your next affidavit…
I Pity the Fool Who Does Not Strike Mr. T From The Jury
Though the fool who does is also taking a chance. the fool who does, probably.
Motion for New Trial Based on Juror’s Twittering
I have ranted enough about the soul-crushing lump of Satan's dung that some call the "BlackBerry," so let me move on now to demon-spawned Twitter, which appears to be the latest method of shattering humanity's collective ability to concentrate and/or…