It is probably well known that jurors should not independently research the case and evidence presented before them in a trial. Just to make that clear, four jury verdicts were overturned on appeal because a juror did just that--using the internet.
Thanks to the Juries Blog, which I follow, for the lead to this excellent story.
I have advocated the use of sortition juries countless times here. Of course a question is what to do when one of them misbehaves. Should the misconduct, whatever that is defined to be, of one be enough to redo the entire sortion jury process? That is not the case in South Carolina.
Should the jury be allowed to do their own experiments and research? In criminal situations, the answer is of course no.
On the subject of juries, in trials, there is always the question of what should be decided by juries and what should be decided by the judge? There is a move that a jury should not decide whether a patent was "obvious."
I thank the Juries Blog for this information.
