Free Republic

Half of the second round of potential jurors in the Trump hush money case — 48 people — on Thursday were immediately excused after they said they could not be fair and impartial. Of those 48 who were excused because they could not be fair and impartial, 23 were men and 25 were women. Roughly 15 appeared to be non-white, according to reports from the courtroom. That meant that half of the potential 96 jurors brought in said they could not be fair and impartial jurors in the case, which is almost the same number who said they could not...

Former CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said Wednesday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” that former President Donald Trump has likely violated a gag order with a social media post. Trump quoted Fox News host Jesse Watters on Truth Social posting, “They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury.” Cooper asked, “Is that permissible given the gag order on Trump?”

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito raised concerns on Tuesday about potential jurors who hold “traditional religious beliefs” on homosexuality being labeled as “bigots,” according to a statement attached to an orders list. The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to weigh a case about whether potential jurors can be excluded based on their sincere religious beliefs. The case surrounded a lawsuit by Jean Finney, who is lesbian, against her former employer, the Missouri Department of Corrections, for workplace discrimination due to her sexuality. Alito, one of the high court’s six Republican-appointed justices, issued a statement toward the bottom of Tuesday’s orders...

Numerous defense attorneys representing January 6 defendants are perplexed in discovering that potential jurors are being recalled or “recycled.” On Sept. 5, a day after Labor Day, defense attorneys discovered their potential jury pool consisted of jurors who were excused the week before. “I have never seen this in all my years of practicing law.” defense attorney Steven Metcalf fumed while exiting the federal courthouse after jury selection of Zachary Alam’s trial.”Are there any jurors left in DC? What is going on here?” The Gateway Pundit sat as the lone observer in the courtroom for nearly the entire duration of...

Numerous defense attorneys representing January 6 defendants are perplexed in discovering that potential jurors are being recalled or “recycled.”On Sept. 5, a day after Labor Day, defense attorneys discovered their potential jury pool consisted of jurors who were excused the week before.“I have never seen this in all my years of practicing law.” defense attorney Steven Metcalf fumed while exiting the federal courthouse after jury selection of Zachary Alam’s trial.”Are there any jurors left in DC? What is going on here?” (snip) As Metcalf spoke to the approximate twentieth potential juror who confirmed they were at jury selection the week...

The federal judge presiding over E. Jean Carroll's civil rape and defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump ruled Thursday he'll use an anonymous jury in the case, noting Trump's inflammatory rhetoric about the justice system. "It bears mention that Mr. Trump repeatedly has attacked courts, judges, various law enforcement officials and other public officials, and even individual jurors in other matters,” U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan of New York said in his decision. He also said he'll refuse to allow jurors' names to become public, adding, "If jurors’ identities were disclosed, there would be a strong likelihood of unwanted...

Former Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann wants to make sure the jurors at his upcoming trial in heavily Democratic Washington, DC, know he was working against former President Donald Trump — even before they hear any evidence in the case. In court papers filed ahead of jury selection set for Monday, Sussmann’s lawyers asked federal Judge Christopher Cooper to include an explicit reference to Trump in his preliminary instructions for the trial.

In response to two jurors revealing that they were victims of sexual abuse, Ghislaine Maxwell will request a new trial. Their experiences guided other jurors to convict her.The move became known during a rush of court filings on Wednesday after two jurors were interviewed, Scotty David and a juror who chose to remain anonymous. During the interviews, each of them admitted that they spoke of how they were abused with other members of the jury during deliberation.A reporter asked David if he remembered the question in the juror questionnaire that specifically asked potential jurors if they or any family member...

Network producer caught tailing jury bus, taken into custody udge Bruce Schroeder banned MSNBC journalists from the courthouse during the Kyle Rittenhouse trial after a network producer was taken into police custody for "trying to photograph jurors." The Kenosha Police Department announced Thursday morning that it arrested James J. Morrison, who said he is a producer employed by MSNBC News, for running a red light while tailing the jury's bus Wednesday night. Schroeder said MSNBC will no longer be allowed in the courthouse and that the act was "a very serious matter." This was apparently the second day in a...

Kyle Rittenhouse, who is on trial for fatally shooting two people and injuring another during protests in Kenosha, Wisc., last summer, selected the final jurors who will decide his verdict from a raffle tumbler on Tuesday. Judge Bruce Schroeder instructed one of the defense attorneys to put a pile of paper slips with the numbers of the 18 jurors, which he said had been exhibited to the defendant, in the raffle drum. The bailiff, after spinning the drum, opened it to Rittenhouse, and he carefully selected six slips of paper one-by-one, eliminating those six and leaving 12 now-official jurors.

KENOSHA, Wisc. — Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Schroeder revealed at the start of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial that someone had filmed the jury at their bus pickup on Tuesday morning. He assured the jurors the video was deleted and more steps will be taken to protect them."At pickup, there was someone there and video recording the jury, which officers approached the person and required [them]...to delete the video and return the phone to him. I've instructed that if it happens again, they are to take the phone and bring it here," Schroeder said."Something like that should not have...

Minneapolis Star-Tribune reporters divulged everything about jurors in the Chavin case short of their names and addresses. It is said by those with knowledge about how proprietary, personal information is improperly released in public--doxxing--that this act constituted clear, civil intimidation. The right to exercise one's jury duty without fear of retribution is a key civil right akin to privacy in the right to vote. My Mother suffered for exercising her right to vote. In Chicago of the early 1930s, she was given a ride to a polling place by an employee of the local political machine. Ballots were not sufficiently...

The state of California has made no secret that it wants to let as many people out of prison as possible. From the early release of inmates through AB 109, to filling parole boards with felon friendly commissioners, to decriminalizing a litany of felonies and drug offenses with Props 47 and 57, Sacramento lawmakers are bending over backwards to dramatically reduce the state’s inmate population. Despite all of these efforts, the number of inmates hasn’t dropped dramatically enough to satisfy the state’s ruling Democrats, so they’re kicking tires on a new approach — rigging the jury system so no one...

One of the jurors who helped convict Chanel Lewis of murder for slaying Queens jogger Karina Vetrano said Monday night that he wasn’t sure the man was guilty and felt pressured to convict him. “He seems like such a good kid. Did he really do this?” the juror, a white male in his 30s, said outside court Monday night about Lewis. “I kept thinking ‘How tall is Karina? How tall is Chanel?’ She looked pretty buff me to.”

In a note to Judge Michael Aloise in Queens Supreme Court on Tuesday night, the jury wrote: “After deliberating for the entire day we are split. It doesn’t seem like we can make progress. We feel that we have exhausted all of our options.” Lewis’ attorney then moved for a mistrial and Aloise granted it. “I’m inclined to agree even though it’s only been a day and a half,” Aloise said. “There were extensive deliberations. They covered issues central to the debate.” Aloise then wished members of the jury a happy holiday before dismissing them.

#Breaking CNN has filed a motion to unseal the names and addresses of the Manafort jurors

The repeated exoneration of allegedly racist cops by minority jurors and judges — from Ferguson and Staten Island to Cleveland and now Baltimore — seriously undermines the anti-cop movement started by Black Lives Matter and fueled by President Obama. With half the Baltimore cops now acquitted in the death of Freddie Gray, a pattern has emerged where highly publicized cases against cops for racially motivated murder of black suspects have crumbled under the weight of court evidence.

The New Mexico Supreme Court is cautioning the state's trial courts that citizens who don't speak English have the right to serve on juries. The court issued the admonition in a ruling that upholds an Albuquerque man's convictions for murder and other crimes in the bludgeoning death of his girlfriend and a subsequent armed robbery and stabbing. Michael Samora's appeal argued that his convictions should be reversed because the Bernalillo County court excused a Spanish-speaking prospective juror who had trouble understanding English. The Supreme Court says it agrees with that argument but also says Samora's defense needed to object during...

The response was predictable, even to those who had maintained hope for a different outcome. After the jury found George Zimmerman not guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin, many cities erupted into protests of what was perceived as a fundamentally unfair and racially-biased verdict that was the result of a broken justice system. Among those protesting that Zimmerman should be punished, some admitted that the flaw was actually found within the Florida law which departs significantly from the common law by allowing individuals who initiate confrontations to use deadly force to defend themselves without a duty to escape. Florida's Stand Your...

The acquittal of George Zimmerman, like the O.J. Simpson acquittal years ago, calls into question the validity of the jury system. Perhaps it’s time to replace it with panels of legal experts or with a smart computer like Watson, the world champion of chess and Jeopardy. The practice of asking peers, or jurors, to sit in judgment has been around since ancient Greece and Rome. This was to provide a check and balance against tyrants or government-sanctioned officials. It was devised to tap collective wisdom as opposed to allowing one individual to determine the fate of another. Unfortunately, juries fall...