Starting this blog has got me reading like I was a 1L approaching finals. I've been reading online newspapers, other blogs, news sites, you name it. When I was reading a story about an investigation at Iowa State University that involved someone allegedly brandishing a handgun, one of the comments after the story caught my eye. Here is the story, and here are some of the comments you can read:
"wow, why was this piece of garb[age] given bail. Keep him locked up, please..."
"He might as well get his diploma from the Illinois State Corrections instead of wasting the high school's time. But let's hear more about this "aspiring rapper" and "honor student "as well as how this is so "out of character" with him. Yeah right"
There was a comment on a television station's web story (not in the same county that jurors would be pulled from, but still alarming) stating:
"He needs to spend some time in prison, he will know what real fear is then...."
Luckily for Mr. Jackson the charges have been dropped...for now.
Defense attorney's need to be aware of the media exposure in all of their cases. If the case warranted any media coverage it is important to track the comments section where people can put their two cents in. I've had this come up in two of my cases. One was a Burglary case (home invasion type) in a small town outside Des Moines that had an online version of the local newspaper. The comments after the story were frightening considering the small jury pool; plus witnesses to the incident were posting comments using their real names and describing what happened in much more detail than the police reports! In a murder case I did with my partner recently I was tracking the stories as the trial unfolded. The day after our jury was picked someone posted comments on the story stating that they were in the pool of potential jurors but had been stricken; they were disappointed at their chance to convict our client. Based on the fact the poster identified herself as a woman and stated she sat right behind our client we were able to tell it was one of our strikes (Whew!). I'm convinced you will get two or three people like that in every criminal case; if they're arrested and sitting in court, they are guilty! The internet makes those type of people come out of the woodwork. But its not just whackos that post online comments on news stories. Average citizens (jurors) do, and with ability to post anonymously or to use a screen-name that has no identifying information they show us how they really feel.
Significant negative comments can lead to a change of venue. I searched Google and came up with this example from a case over the summer in Colorado Springs. The judge was very concerned about "Numerous vituperative comments about Deborah Nicholls on The [local newspaper's] online forum, including one that said she should be “lynched”. Hmmm....wonder if the person who posted that would have told us about the whole lynching thing in Voir Dire?
At the very least these types of comments can give you something to work with other than the standard..."there's been a lot of coverage in the press" arguments, it can show actual bias. In higher profile cases that are headed for trial, this type of research is absolutely required. At the very least you've protected your record for appeal.
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