Juror fined for premature Facebook posting that defendant guilty
September 2, 2010 by donal brown
Filed under 1st Amendment News, News & Opinion, Uncategorized
A juror who had posted that a defendant was guilty before the jury announced a verdict will have to pay a $250 fine and write an essay on the right to a fair trial. -db
The Detroit News
September 2, 2010
By Candice Williams
MOUNT CLEMONS, Mich. — A woman who was removed from a jury for announcing a guilty verdict on Facebook will have to pay a $250 fine and write a five-page essay on the constitutional right to a fair trial.
Hadley Jons, 20, of Warren told Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Diane Druzinski this morning that she was “very sorry.”
Jons, a premed student at Macomb Community College, was a juror in a resisting-arrest case last month. On a day off from the trial, Aug. 11, Jons wrote on Facebook that it was “gonna be fun to tell the defendant they’re GUILTY.”
The defense attorney’s son found the post while researching jurors. Druzinski removed Jons from the jury the next day.
Druzinski told Jons that she violated her oath to be fair and impartial. The fine and essay are due Oct. 1.
“I believe it’s an appropriate resolution under the circumstances,” said Jons’ attorney, John Giancotti. Since the matter was a civil one, he said Jons will have no record “other than the spotlight she’s been under.”
Associated Press contributed.
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