TBA Law Blog

TBA Law Blog

6th Circuit: Court Cannot Access Juror's Devices to Look for Misconduct

Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Sep 30, 2022
News Type: Legal News

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a federal appeals court does not have the power to order an examination of a juror’s electronic devices to determine whether an outside influence affected the verdict. The ruling came in the case of Alexander “P.G.” Sittenfeld, a former Cincinnati City Council member who was convicted of bribery and attempted extortion, the ABA Journal reports. Sittenfeld had sought a forensic examination of the electronic devices of “Juror X” after learning that she had discussed another juror in a Facebook post, and that commenters on her Facebook posts had mentioned the trial. The judge in the case denied his request and that decision was upheld by the appeals court, which said, “a court cannot order a search of a juror’s belongings — electronic or otherwise.” If a judge suspects that juror misconduct constitutes a crime, that is a matter for a prosecutor to investigate, the court said.

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