juror

Texting juror tossed in jail

It was the glow that gave him away.

Benjamin Kohler, 26, a jury member at a trial in Oregon, was sitting through testimony.

You might imagine that the testimony was interesting to a 26-year-old man. For the defendant was accused of armed robbery.

Indeed, the lights dimmed to show a surveillance video. That would surely have a mesmerizing element.

It may not have been mesmerizing enough. Or, perhaps, Kohler is a very adept multitasker.

For the dimmed lights revealed his illuminated face. Like a character from the "Blair Witch Project," the rays shone from below.

Benjamin Kohler appeared to be texting. … Read more

Samsung loses bid for new trial after Apple's $1B verdict

A federal judge has denied Samsung's request for dismissal of Apple's verdict and for a new trial based on allegations of jury misconduct, saying Samsung should have done more work during jury questioning.

In seeking to have Apple's $1 billion verdict arising from software patents on mobile devices overturned, the South Korean electronics giant argued it was tainted by the jury foreman's failure to disclose previous litigation with Seagate Technology, a company in which Samsung is a major investor, as well as an alleged bias made evident by statements made to the media after the verdict. … Read more

Apple denies Samsung's claim that it withheld juror info

Samsung is trying to raise doubts about a $1 billion jury verdict that found the company violated Apple's patents, but some of Samsung's new claims are in dispute.

Samsung alleges that the jury decision in August, which found Samsung had infringed Apple's patents involving the iPhone and iPad, was tainted partly because Velvin Hogan, the foreman, withheld information about a lawsuit he was involved in with Seagate, one of Samsung's partners.

Samsung, which also suggested Apple knew about Hogan's conflict with Seagate and withheld the information, demanded that Apple disclose what it knew. On Friday, … Read more

Samsung raises jury misconduct in bid for new Apple trial

Samsung is alleging juror misconduct in new court filings asking a federal judge to throw out Apple's billion-dollar jury verdict and allow a new trial.

In a flurry of court documents, Samsung's attorneys list a series of cases, including ones that federal courts in California must follow, in which juror misconduct prompted a new trial. Their apparent argument: interviews that jurors in the landmark case gave to news organizations provide evidence of misconduct serious enough to have influenced the verdict.

One document reviewed by CNET shows Samsung predicting its arguments will likely "subject all of the jurors … Read more

Memento for patent jurors: 42 articles they missed during trial

British author Douglas Adams joked in his seminal work "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" that "the answer to life, the universe, and everything" was 42. It turns out that's the same answer the court in the Apple v. Samsung trial arrived at when considering the satisfactory number of news stories to give the formerly sequestered jury members once the trial wrapped up.

The request for such a collection came from U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh after one juror mentioned having seen just a headline about the trial on the very first day. … Read more

Florida bans jurors from tweeting, blogging

Florida has officially banned jurors from tweeting.

New jury instructions adopted by the Supreme Court of Florida, which judges will pass along to jurors, instruct them not to discuss the case through "electronic communication, such as a blog, Twitter, e-mail, text message, or any other means."

Tweeting (or Facebooking, or blogging) about cases has happened, of course. An Ohio man convicted of drunk driving unsuccessfully tried to get a new trial after a juror blogged about the case. A New Hampshire juror was caught calling criminal defendants "riff-raff."

A judge removed a juror after she reportedly … Read more