Three words cost a juror one thousand dollars. “Dying from boredom” was posted to Facebook by Kimberly Ellis while she was a juror in a criminal case in New York. This clearly violated the judge’s order not engage
Juror Kimberly Ellis
in any social media.
In addition to posting about her boredom, Ellis also posted details about the jury’s deliberation on a September robbery case.”“God help me the other jurors don’t trust the police and want to outright dismiss the confessions as well as the majority of the rest of the evidence. Tomorrow is going to be a very difficult day.”Ellis also posted.
One of Ellis’ Facebook friends is a Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office prosecutor. And that “friend” told the judge about Ellis’s posts.
Because of the Facebook posts the case ended in a mistrial and Ellis was found in contempt of court. She was fined $1000. The robbery case must now be retried.
Ellis apologized for her actions and hopes her company does not fire her for her actions.
Jurors whether they are in Massachusetts, New York or anywhere must stay off of all social media. When someone is a juror they cannot talk about the case. That goes for tweeting and posting. People can comment and influence the juror’s decision.
Patrick Donovan is a Massachusetts criminal attorney.
