Keeping Jurors From Straying Electronically

Reprinted with permission from FindLaw.com

Jurors routinely are admonished by judges only to consider the evidence presented to them at trial and not to consider outside information. How is that working in this electronic age? Not so well. There have been a number of reports of jurors going online to learn about and communicate regarding the cases on which they are serving.

Once upon a time, when jurors were given this admonition, perhaps it was much easier to follow. They readily could understand that they were not to visit the scene of an accident, for example. And even going to visit that location may have been too much trouble anyway.

However, these days all types of information is immediately available to jurors fingertips electronically. A simple Google search on a Blackberry can provide all sorts of information about the parties and circumstances of a case within seconds.