There has been something of a stir recently about jurors texting and twittering while court is in session. Here another interesting tale of the kind of shenanigans civilian jurors get up to.
We first consider Basham's argument that the district court should have granted his motion for a new trial after learning that the jury foreperson contacted several news media outlets during the penalty phase of the trial.
United States v. Basham, No._________, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 6595, at *24 (4th Cir. Mar. 30, 2009).
Specifically, Wilson made a six-minute call to WSPA, two one-minute calls and a four-minute call to WS Asheville, a two-minute call to WYFF in Greenville, a two-minute call to the Greenville News, and a one-minute call to the Spartanburg Herald. These latter two calls to newspapers had not been reported by Wilson during her initial testimony.
United States v. Basham, No._________, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 6595, at *28 (4th Cir. Mar. 30, 2009).