Finding Untainted Jurors in the Age of the Internet

[groovedaddy]

WASHINGTON — When Enron collapsed in 2001, thousands of employees at its Houston headquarters lost their jobs and savings, and the city’s economy reeled. Much of the public’s anger was directed at Jeffrey K. Skilling, the company’s former chief executive.

A Houston Chronicle column about his trial on fraud charges was headlined “Your Tar and Feathers Ready? Mine Are.” A rap song appeared called “Drop the S Off Skilling.” And potential jurors in Mr. Skilling’s trial told the court that he was “a high-class crook” who “should be reduced to having to beg on the corner and live under a bridge.”

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday on whether Mr. Skilling’s conviction should be overturned because the prejudice against him in Houston was so strong and pervasive that he could not receive a fair trial.

It has been two decades since the Supreme Court has considered a major change of venue case, and its jurisprudence is still rooted in decisions based on small communities dominated by a single local newspaper and perhaps a few local television news outlets. The law has been slow to adapt to a more general, more intense and yet more atomized media environment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/us/01venue.html?th&emc=th

[niyad]

1. I am always reminded of a dan fielding remark in "night court": "a jury of my PEERS???? 12 people

who weren't bright enough to get off jury duty?"