Supreme Court Won’t Overturn Life Sentence That Violates New Jury Rule
A Black Louisiana man had pushed to overturn his life sentence for robbery, kidnapping and rape based on new precedent that says such outcomes require a unanimous jury.
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jury
Holy Spirit
A federal appeals court ordered a new trial for former Florida Congresswoman Corrine Brown, vacating her convictions for fraud, ethics, and tax offenses. The court ruled the dismissal of a juror, who expressed after the start of deliberations that the Holy Spirit told him Brown was not guilty on all the charges, violated Brown’s Sixth Amendment right to a unanimous jury verdict.
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Chauvin Asks for New Trial Over Death of George Floyd
Two weeks after being convicted of murder, the former Minneapolis police officer is accusing prosecutors of misconduct.
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Full Fourth Circuit Hears Former WVa Justice’s Appeal Over Juror Twitter Use
A former West Virginia chief justice says a juror in his 2018 fraud trial defied an order to stay off social media and followed reporters who tweeted about the case.
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Death Row
An appeals court in Texas vacated the sentence of the state’s longest-serving death row inmate, Raymond Riles. The jury that convicted Riles for shooting a man to death during a robbery did not receive a “mitigation-focused” instruction but should have because of the mental health evidence presented at trial, including witness testimony that he was often psychotic and had schizophrenia.
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No ‘Guilty’ Verdicts in Trial of White Cops Accused of Beating Black Undercover Officer
A federal jury on Monday failed to convict one current and two former St. Louis police officers accused of beating an undercover Black officer during a 2017 protest.
Read moreJurors in Ex-Officer’s High-Profile Trial Face Heavy Burden
Some would-be jurors said they were unnerved by the very thought of being asked whether to assign guilt in the
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Jury Seated in First Trial Over Death of George Floyd
With a full panel of 12 jurors and three alternates, a Minnesota judge put the murder trial over the death of George Floyd to rest until next week.
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Animal Cruelty
A federal judge vacated a New York man’s convictions for arson and animal abuse after starting porch fires at an ex-girlfriend’s home and dousing her pet rabbit with gasoline, although it was not injured in the fire. The man had a valid challenge to a prospective juror since she was not clear that she could be impartial in the case due to her love of animals.
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Two Chauvin Jurors Dismissed Over Reactions to Floyd Settlement
A $27 million settlement Minneapolis reached with George Floyd’s family has set back jury selection in the trial of the former officer accused of killing him.
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Chauvin Defense Team Seeks Trial Delay After Floyd Family Settlement
The former Minneapolis police officer’s attorney argued that news of a record-breaking settlement could prejudice jurors in his murder case.
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‘Deliberate Ignorance’ Jury Instruction Focus of Sweepstakes Fraud Appeal
The 11th Circuit on Tuesday considered whether prosecutors are trying to have their cake and eat it, too, if they argue for a defendant’s active knowledge of a crime but fall back on a “deliberate ignorance” jury instruction to convict.
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Three Jurors Selected in Derek Chauvin Murder Trial
Jury selection began in the former Minneapolis cop’s trial for the death of George Floyd, but questions about the status of a third-degree murder charge remain unresolved.
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Jury Selection Delayed in George Floyd Murder Trial
Prosecutors are filing a motion to prohibit jury selection after the judge decided to move forward with the process despite pending appeals.
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Trial for Cop Charged in George Floyd Killing Set to Kick Off Next Week
As Minneapolis prepares for its most anticipated murder trial in recent memory, the charges and discovery issues remain unresolved.
Read morePolice Sirens
An appeals court in Texas ruled against a man convicted of evading arrest, finding that a siren the jury heard while deliberating is not “other evidence” that would require a new trial. In his defense, the man said he hadn’t heard the cop’s sirens until he was right behind him. A juror told his lawyers after the trial they figured if they could hear a siren from the 15th floor of a building, the defendant could have heard the siren of the police car chasing him.
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Top Connecticut Court Grapples With Juror-Exclusion Prerogatives
Judges appeared leery this morning about whether jury questionnaires singling out distrust of authority unfairly exclude minority voices.
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Escalator Fall
A jury in the King County Superior Court in Washington state returned a $3.2 million verdict in a wrongful death case against Alaska Airlines brought by the estate of 75-year-old Bernice Kekona, who was supposed to have gate-to-gate service but was left alone and ended up falling down an escalator in her wheelchair.
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New Jury-Unanimity Rule Stirs Debate on Retroactive Effect
With justices from both party lines noting the racist overtone of divided guilty verdicts, the Supreme Court dug in Wednesday to whether to bestow retroactive effect on a recent ruling requiring unanimous jury verdicts.
Read morePolice Shooting
The Ninth Circuit upheld a ruling in favor of a Los Angeles police officer who shot and killed a 14-year-old boy. Although a member of the jury in this excessive force case was in social media groups that closely followed law enforcement activity, and didn’t disclose that fact, such an affiliation “would not have provided a basis for a challenge for cause.”
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