Judges combat Twitter, Facebook use by jurors during trials

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Judges combat Twitter, Facebook use by jurors during trials


Laura A. Bischoff

Posted: 02/11/2010 11:21 PM

COLUMBUS — In Lucas County, cell phones are forbidden in the courthouse. In Cuyahoga County, a juror’s text message triggered a mistrial. And U.S. District Courts just came out with suggested instructions that tell jurors not to use smart phones, blogs, text messages or social media to communicate about the case.

At a conference at the Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday, Feb. 11, judges and journalists wrestled with the issues presented by social media in the courts.

“I tell them (jurors) they can’t use the Internet. I’ll probably go back and say you can’t use Twitter or any other social media,” said Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Beth Myers.

Facebook boasts of 400 million users, Twitter has 23.4 million monthly users, and 75 percent of Americans use social media of some sort. Social media sites are the fourth most popular online activity, eclipsing pornography.

Social media are so popular and ubiquitous that Ohio Supreme Court Justice Judith Lanzinger worries that potential jurors won’t be willing to disconnect for two weeks during a trial.

“I think this is one of the biggest concerns that we have about fair trials in the future,” Lanzinger said.

Second District Court of Appeals Judge Jeff Froelich became a judge in 1978, back when YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and smart phone sounded like just silly words.

Froelich said judges have to try to balance new technology with due process. Froelich said he is concerned about small cameras being used by courtroom audience members to photograph witnesses or jurors.

In 1954 during the Sam Sheppard case in Cleveland, reporters and photographers furiously covered the sensational trial; these days it’s reporters, bloggers and everyday people telling the world what’s going on inside a courtroom, Froelich said.

“The concerns are the same but the technology has changed,” said Froelich.

Another judge said he recently was asked to issue search warrants for electronic devices such as Flip cameras, text messages and social media postings that may have been used to record a sex crime.

In another area of concern, the state supreme court in Florida issued an advisory opinion that judges shouldn’t “friend” on Facebook attorneys who are likely to appear before them in court.

Franklin County Probate Court Judge Eric Brown, a Democrat running for state supreme court, has 3,289 Facebook friends at last count.

“It’s like having a Rolodex,” he said.

Brown said the courts need guidelines on how to handle new technologies inside the courthouse, but he noted that much of the behavior — jurors doing their own research, witnesses conveying testimony to one another, and photographing proceedings without the judge’s permission — is already banned.

“The technology might provide another way to do it but the conduct is prohibited,” he said.