Courts are starting to take a tough stance on jurors who use social media and email to violate court rules. Here are two different stories from England and New York about jurors being punished for using technology to contact non-jurors. In both instances, the jurors revealed information about ongoing deliberations, which resulted in the trial judge declaring a mistrial.
The first example is from England where a juror contacted the defendant via Facebook. In this case, the juror was sentenced to 8 months incarceration.
NPR blog: Eight Months In Jail For Juror Who Used Web To Contact Defendant
Telegrahp.co.uk: Facebook contempt case: juror jailed for eight months
Reuters: Jurorjailed for Facebook contempt
BBC News: Facebook juror given eight months
The second example is from NY where a juror sent an email to his friend who happened to be a Bronx prosecutor. That prosecutor forwarded the email to the Queens prosecutor who was actually handling the juror's case. The Queens prosecutor subsequently gave the email to the judge who then fined the juror $1,000.
NY Daily News: Juror gets $1000 fine for sending email during rape case, causing mistrial
NY Post: Judge to texter: ur so bu$ted
Herald Sun: Jurorfined for texting during rape trial
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