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IN THIS ISSUE
December 2011

New posters in Washington Courts encourage jurors to "focus on the courtroom"

Recent headlines point to a new concern for courts: "Judge to Juror: Stop tweeting about the murder trial"; "Jurors 'friending' each other on FaceboPosterok" and "Googling juror prompts court to overturn jury verdict."

In the age of social media, with smart phones at our fingertips every day, sharing a 'status update' on the experience of serving as a juror may be the instinctive response.

Starting this month, jurors in Washington courtrooms will see a new poster designed to remind jurors of their critical role in assuring a fair trial -- and the importance of refraining from researching a case online or commenting on social media sites while the trial is ongoing.

"We recognize that, in their normal 21st century lives, jurors may routinely post information about all of their activities on websites and are probably accustomed to using the internet to get quick answers to any question that might arise," said King County Superior Court Judge William Downing Co-Chair of the Washington State Pattern Jury Instructions Committee.

"Because these are such natural impulses in our electronic age, jurors will benefit from a gentle reminder that their duty to provide a fair trial requires them to postpone these activities until after their trial is finished."

This is a critical point. The U.S. Constitution requires impartial juries, meaning that jurors must be unbiased, must refrain from prematurely forming or discussing opinions about the case, and must base their decisions solely on the information received in the courtroom.

The poster cautions jurors to avoid outside information about the case from the internet or other sources, and not to text, e-mail, blog, or discuss the case with family or friends. The poster was designed specifically to be displayed in jury deliberation rooms, a location which would give jurors a continuing reminder throughout the trial about the judge's instructions. Also, the level of detail in the poster was determined by the fact that jurors often have time to kill in the deliberation room, so the poster contains more detail than would otherwise be included.

The poster was created by the Washington Pattern Jury Instructions Committee, with private funds at no cost to taxpayers.

By Wendy Ferrell
Judicial Communications Manager
Administrative Office of the Courts, State of Washington
 

AOCs and high courts using social media: an update

Just how many state court systems are using social media? In the May issue of Connected, we asked this question and shared a table with statistics as of April 22, 2011. This information was recently updated and the latest information is now available.  courts socmed2

At least 18 administrative offices of the courts or high courts are using at least one social media platform, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or Flickr. All 18 are on Twitter, six are on Facebook, five have YouTube channels, and three have Flickr photostreams. 

Links to these state court social media sites are available here.  
 

Discovery and authentication of social media evidence

The Fall, 2011 edition of the Reynolds Courts and Media Law Journal included an article by Steven M. Curry, "The Intersection Between Social Networking and Litigation: Discovery and Authentication of Social Media Evidence."

Generally speaking, Connected doesn't track and cover evidentiary issues related to social media, but we've received a lot of questions lately on this topic and wanted to share this article. (Once the electronic version of the journal is open, users can type in "71" to the page counter at the top of the page to get directly to the beginning of this article.)
 

Connected Courts
The Indiana Courts tweet about their Flickr photos

In last month's Connected, Tennessee Supreme Court Public Information Officer Laura Click explained how the Tennessee Courts have been using Flickr to share photos with the press, the public, and other members of the court community.

The Indiana Courts also maintain a Flickr account with over 1000 photos, and they recently used Twitter to tell their followers about awards photographs that were just uploaded to Flickr for sharing.


DC Courts Facebook

 

 

Happy Holidays from Connectedxmastwitterbird2

Connected would like to wish all our readers a very happy holiday season!
 
It's been a great first year! Thank you for your interest, your suggestions, and your amazing support since the launch of Connected.

We would also like to extend a special thanks to our guest authors from the CCPIO community for their tremendous contribution.

Have a happy New Year and we will see you in 2012! 

 

We welcome suggestions for future content and feedback on current issues. 
Please email Nora Sydow. 

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