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Internet-Caused Mistrials Are On the Rise
The NYTimes is running a tip-of-the-iceberg story about how the age of Google is resulting in more mistrials as the traditional rules of evidence, honed over many centuries, collide with the always-on Internet. Especially when jurors carry the always-on Internet in their pockets. (We discussed one such case recently.) "The use of BlackBerrys and iPhones by jurors gathering and sending out information about cases is wreaking havoc on trials around the country, upending deliberations and infuriating judges. ... Jurors are not supposed to seek information outside of the courtroom. They are required to reach a verdict based on only the facts the judge has decided are admissible, and they are not supposed to see evidence that has been excluded as prejudicial. But now, using their cellphones, they can look up the name of a defendant on the Web or examine an intersection using Google Maps, violating the legal system's complex rules of evidence."
> Every juror is searched every day for any electronic device. No cell phones
But wouldn't that run contrary to the overriding goal of equipping every man, woman and child in the country with an electronic surveillance device to boost effectiveness of marketing efforts and counter criminal behavior?
Anyway, the US Constitution guarantees you a trial by a jury of your peers, but in 2009, do you really regard the people living anywhere in your county to be your "peers"? There are no requirements that they are literate or law abiding, only that they have a pulse and be stupid or bored enough not to get resist the call to judge others.