Web-enabled phones sowing mistrials in courtrooms

Permanent, hand-held web access is changing the way juries interact with the outside world. Unless phones are banned altogether, mobile internet is going to affect the legal system big time. John Schwartz reports for the Times:

In the Arkansas case, Stoam Holdings, the company trying to overturn the $12.6 million judgment, said a juror, Johnathan Powell, had sent Twitter messages during the trial. Mr. Powell’s messages included “oh and nobody buy Stoam. Its bad mojo and they’ll probably cease to Exist, now that their wallet is 12m lighter” and “So Johnathan, what did you do today? Oh nothing really, I just gave away TWELVE MILLION DOLLARS of somebody else’s money.”

I can get behind jurors doing a quick Wikipedia lookup, but tweeting about the trial is a bit silly. (This particular juror says he didn't tweet about the case until it was over.)

Photo: ArielAmanda

[#1 posted by Anonymous , March 18, 2009 9:37 AM]

Jurors are not allowed to do their own research of any kind - wikipedia, google, World Book encyclopaedia, anything. The whole idea is it is up to the parties to do their own research and make their own arguments, and then the jury decides based on that.

[#2 posted by Enochrewt , March 18, 2009 1:20 PM]

That jackass Johnathan Powell should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Not only did he waste the interested parties' time and money, he wasted the taxpayer's money as well.

[#3 posted by OM , March 18, 2009 2:38 PM]

...And then there's the Tweets asking for advice on a judgment:

"ZOMG! Should I send this guy to the electric chair??

[#4 posted by icky2000 , March 18, 2009 5:00 PM]

This is a good time for me to complain about headlines that infer the instrument used by the individual was somehow partially to blame. In this case, obviously it isn't the phone that caused the problem. Probably all jurors have cell phones. The unique element is the presence of the asshat.

Stories about people talking on their phone while driving are often guilty of this as well (ie Cell Phones Cause x% of All 2008 Fatal Accidents). I realize this is petty and silly, it just happens to be my pet peeve.

[#5 posted by seanboing , March 21, 2009 1:54 AM]

Boy you have to be naive if you think anyone would let a juror use a cell phone during the trial. Maybe you could get away with it if you were a touch typist on your cell. But people would hear you typing. You could also do it during a break... In every courtroom I have been in in the past 5 years, you have had to turn off your cellphone. I have served on a jury as well.