Judge Rejects Proud Boys' Racial Bias Claims Over Diverse Jury, Notes Panel Isn't 'Bereft of...

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
...“I was sitting with another juror and he took off to take a walk,” the juror told the judge. “A woman came up to me and said, ‘So how do you think the case is going?’ I said I don’t think we’re supposed to talk, and she said ‘Well, it was worth shot.’ She lingered, and I said ‘Sorry.'”

The juror then pointed out the person who approached him: she was sitting in the courtroom. Prosecutors later identified her as a reporter who has interviewed a spouse of one of the defendants and one of the defense attorneys, although her name was not provided.

Kelly, apparently satisfied that no prejudice would result from the interaction, noted that “there are inadvertent things that happen,” but that approaching a juror in this way was not one of them. He then issued a stern warning.

“I have issued an order related to the media that they are not to approach the jurors in this case while their service is pending,” Kelly said. “The failure to observe that order could result in a finding of contempt, and it could, in theory, result in criminal prosecution, depending on what was said to the juror. I want to make sure that everyone is clear that no one is to approach these jurors or, once we have a jury, that no one is to approach them about the case.”

Kelly added that anyone who approaches jurors does so “at their peril.”

Jurors and defendants are discriminated against every day in courts. Lawywers want who they want on the jury and unless it is provable, that they intentionally discriminated then you just got to go with it.

This is a shame and seems to be
counterproductiv e. Those behaviors could contribute to why some who serve as jurors try to get relieved or excused for those duties!