Kentucky

From the Courier Journal:  The following letter to the editor was written by Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Charles Cunningham - - -

As a society, we ask an awful lot of persons who serve as jurors. We command their attendance, dictate their behavior, and impose extraordinary responsibility upon them. Yet experience has shown that, with rare exceptions, they are up to the task and take their responsibility far more seriously than some might expect. In return, we give them our thanks ?- and $12.50 a day for their time and expenses.



Not surprisingly, some folks are apprehensive when they find a jury summons in the mailbox. Back in the day, we worried about jurors visiting the scene of an accident or talking with their spouse about the case in the middle of the trial. In the 21st century, courts are struggling to keep jurors cocooned even though they come to us accustomed to interacting with, and learning from, television, the Internet, Facebook, Twitter, etc. This presents a challenge to our goal of having disputes decided on the evidence by impartial citizens. Judges must address this challenge as part of their duty of providing fair trials. But it must be addressed without making the jurors' experience needlessly punitive.

Judge Susan Gibson recently had to wrestle with this problem in a trial she presided over after an allegation came to light that a juror may have watched a YouTube clip concerning the matter before deciding the case. She dealt with the problem, in part, by talking to some jurors in a closed but recorded meeting. Judge Gibson obviously wanted to preserve the confidentiality of juror deliberations, which are essentially never publicly disclosed. She concluded the juror should not be sanctioned.

I write because The Courier's article last Monday chose to gloss over the newsworthy issue of jurors' extracurricular activities and how they impact trials. Instead, it focused on the non-issue of a judge protecting the privacy of jurors' deliberations. The story thus had to resort to using colorful quotes from The Courier's own lawyer to create news where none existed. This lawyer allegedly thinks Judge Gibson thinks ?the courtroom is hers and not the public's.? This comment is, at best, simplistic hyperbole better suited to supermarket tabloids. At worst, it makes The Courier seem petty and petulant. I think your readers deserve better. I know Judge Gibson deserves better.

Charles L. Cunningham, Jr.



Judge

Jefferson Circuit Court Division 4

Louisville 40202