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Juror Intends to Appeal Order to Turn Over Facebook Posts
A California attorney representing a juror will appeal the order requiring his client to divulge the contents of his Facebook account.
A California juror, Arturo Ramirez, has been ordered by Judge Michael Kenny to “execute a consent form” that would allow Facebook to supply postings the juror made on Facebook while sitting as a juror. Should Mr. Ramirez fail to do so, he risks being held in contempt of court.
Mr. Ramirez posted on Facebook a comment as to whether the prosecutors’ case can “get any more BORING”. Although the comment of Mr. Ramirez appears innocuous, Judge Kenny wrote: "[i]t is clear that the law was not intended to allow a juror to violate the court's admonition to keep silent about a case and then claim that the act made the very postings that violated the admonition private and unreachable."
This case could end up testing the limits of a defendant’s constitutional right to a fair trial “by an impartial jury” in an environment where Facebook posts and Twitter updates are commonplace.
For additional information, visit:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20030953-281.html#ixzz1DOhkwWp1