Juror's Tweets Overturn Trial Verdict

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday December 10, 2011 @05:29AM from the years-ago-that-headline-would-mean-something-different dept.

D H NG writes "The Arkansas Supreme Court had overturned a murder conviction due to a juror tweeting during the trial. Erickson Dimas-Martinez was convicted in 2010 of killing a teenager and was sentenced to death. His lawyers appealed the case on account of a juror tweeting his musings during the trial and because another juror nodded off during the presentation of evidence. Tweets sent include 'The coffee here sucks' and 'Court. Day 5. here we go again.' In an opinion, Associate Justice Donald Corbin wrote 'because of the very nature of Twitter as an... online social media site, Juror 2's tweets about the trial were very much public discussions.' Dimas-Martinez is to be given a new trial."

2 of 423 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Re:Uh oh. by Gunfighter · 2011-12-10 05:41 · Score: 5, Informative

Please be sure to read up on the concept of jury nullification before you go. You have more power in the jury box than any other individual in the justice system.

--
-- Stu

/. ID under 2,000. I feel old now.
YAWN by Anonymous Coward · 2011-12-10 06:15 · Score: 5, Informative

Read the full opinion. The trial decision was reversed and remanded for many reasons, only one of which was juror misconduct. The juror misconduct charge came about from the juror not following the judge's direction not to use social media. The judge actually determined that the tweets did not harm the defendant.