The recently concluded trial of Baltimore's soon to be former Mayor Dixon ended when Mayor Dixon was found guilty of embezzlement for stealing gift cards from the poor. Numerous times throughout the trial and prior to jury deliberations, Hon. Dennis M. Sweeney, who presided over Ms. Dixon's trial, admonished the jury not to discuss the case with anyone. This jury instruction is standard throughout the country. After Ms. Dixon was found guilty of embezzlement, but before she was sentenced, it came to the attention of her legal team that 5 of the 12 members of the jury (the "Facebook Five") became "Facebook Friends" and started communicating with each other on Facebook.
Mayor Dixon filed a motion to set aside the verdict and one of her arguments was that the Facebook Five's Facebook activities constituted jury misconduct under Maryland law. This argument became moot when the Mayor agreed to withdraw it after a plea agreement was entered that resolved all of the Mayor's outstanding legal issues.
The State of Maryland like most states does not have an official social media policy relating to court room behavior for judges, attorneys, witnesses, or members of the jury. According to my research, there are no reported cases in the country that have had to determine whether Facebook Friending and/or Facebook posting about a case during a trial by a juror is juror misconduct. Maryland has ruled that juror Internet research during deliberations is juror misconduct. In Wardlaw v. State of Maryland, 971 A.2d 331 (2009),the court reversed an assault conviction after a deliberating juror used the Internet to perform research about the case and notified other deliberating jurors about the research.
If the Facebook Five discussed substantive issues about the case outside of the courtroom in any medium, including Facebook, there is no doubt there was juror misconduct and the conviction would most likely have been overturned. However, if the Facebook Five were just Facebook friending each other and not discussing substantive issues of the case, this issue is just a red herring that was deftly used by the Mayor's legal team to secure her Alford plea and enable her to keep her $83,000 annual pension and enable her to eventually run for public office again in the future.
Courts throughout the country should expand upon the jury instruction that prohibits jurors from talking about the case or performing one's own independent research to specifically include prohibiting jurors from discussing anything pertaining to the case on social media. By acknowledging on a Facebook wall that you are on a jury for anyone, let alone someone as high profile as the mayor of a major metropolis, invites all of your friends to comment and possibly influence your opinion as to the guilt or innocence of a defendant, something clearly prohibited by current jury instructions.
Mayor Dixon's high profile case demonstrates the need for state bar associations throughout the country to work in conjunction with their respective state legislatures and judiciaries to create social media policies that address the reality of today's technology and citizens' social media habits. Therefore, I urge state bar association presidents throughout the country to create social media law committees to work with their legislators and members of the judiciary to craft uniform court room social media policies. Continuing to ignore the realities of the Internet/Social Media Age is a recipe for injustice. To learn more about these issues you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com
Copyright 2010 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
Showing posts with label Facebook Friending. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Facebook Friending. Show all posts
Friday, January 15, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
The Legal Definition of a Facebook Friend
According to Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, the top two definitions of the word "friend" are:
1 a: one attached to another by affection or esteem b: acquaintance
2 a: one that is not hostile b: one that is of the same nation, party, or group.
The New Oxford Dictionary's 2009 word of the year was "unfriend." The New Oxford Dictionary recognizes "unfriend" as a verb, and defines "unfriend" to mean "to remove someone as a 'friend' on a social networking site such as Facebook."
Therefore, I would deduce that the New Oxford Dictionary would define the verb "friend" to mean, "to add someone as a 'friend' on a social networking site such as Facebook." When I looked for the definition of a "Facebook Friend" on Facebook, I could not find a definition. As far as I could determine, it is not defined on Facebook. When I looked on other online dictionaries, Black's Law Dictionary, and other online legal dictionaries, I could not find a legal definition for "Facebook Friend."
I would like to create a legal definition for a "Facebook Friend." A "Facebook Friend" is someone whom is added to your network on a social media website. A "Facebook Friend" may or may not be someone with whom you have ever met or interacted with other than requesting that he or she be added to your network or that you confirmed that he or she be added to your network.
Some "Facebook Friends" are close friends with whom you keep in touch with on a regular basis. Some "Facebook Friends" are people with whom you have not spoken with for 10-20 years, while others may only be "Facebook Friends" of "Facebook Friends." Some people are "Facebook Friends" with movie stars and other people deemed famous only because a "Friend Request" was sent and accepted.
If a "Friend Request" is accepted and two people are "Facebook Friends" that does not mean that these two people are actual friends or have any contact other than an acceptance of a "Friend Request." A Facebook user has the ability through his or her privacy controls to limit what some "Facebook Friends" are able to view about them. For example, some "Facebook Friends" are able to view personal information about their "Facebook Friends" while others are not.
The reason for creating a legal definition of a "Facebook Friend" is that the U.S. legal system may one day need to create a definition to determine possible attorney or witness conflicts of interest, or jury tampering.
The bottom line is that just because two people are "Facebook Friends" does not mean that either person actually knows each other. In other words, "Facebook Friending" may be just the online equivalent of handing out your business card to a complete stranger. To learn more about this issue you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com
Copyright 2010 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
1 a: one attached to another by affection or esteem b: acquaintance
2 a: one that is not hostile b: one that is of the same nation, party, or group.
The New Oxford Dictionary's 2009 word of the year was "unfriend." The New Oxford Dictionary recognizes "unfriend" as a verb, and defines "unfriend" to mean "to remove someone as a 'friend' on a social networking site such as Facebook."
Therefore, I would deduce that the New Oxford Dictionary would define the verb "friend" to mean, "to add someone as a 'friend' on a social networking site such as Facebook." When I looked for the definition of a "Facebook Friend" on Facebook, I could not find a definition. As far as I could determine, it is not defined on Facebook. When I looked on other online dictionaries, Black's Law Dictionary, and other online legal dictionaries, I could not find a legal definition for "Facebook Friend."
I would like to create a legal definition for a "Facebook Friend." A "Facebook Friend" is someone whom is added to your network on a social media website. A "Facebook Friend" may or may not be someone with whom you have ever met or interacted with other than requesting that he or she be added to your network or that you confirmed that he or she be added to your network.
Some "Facebook Friends" are close friends with whom you keep in touch with on a regular basis. Some "Facebook Friends" are people with whom you have not spoken with for 10-20 years, while others may only be "Facebook Friends" of "Facebook Friends." Some people are "Facebook Friends" with movie stars and other people deemed famous only because a "Friend Request" was sent and accepted.
If a "Friend Request" is accepted and two people are "Facebook Friends" that does not mean that these two people are actual friends or have any contact other than an acceptance of a "Friend Request." A Facebook user has the ability through his or her privacy controls to limit what some "Facebook Friends" are able to view about them. For example, some "Facebook Friends" are able to view personal information about their "Facebook Friends" while others are not.
The reason for creating a legal definition of a "Facebook Friend" is that the U.S. legal system may one day need to create a definition to determine possible attorney or witness conflicts of interest, or jury tampering.
The bottom line is that just because two people are "Facebook Friends" does not mean that either person actually knows each other. In other words, "Facebook Friending" may be just the online equivalent of handing out your business card to a complete stranger. To learn more about this issue you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com
Copyright 2010 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Juror Facebook Friending During Baltimore Mayor's Trial May Enable Mayor To Receive A New Trial
As a Baltimore native, I keep an active eye on all things Baltimore. I am a fan of the Baltimore Ravens, Baltimore Orioles, Barry Levinson, and John Waters. However, I am very disappointed in Baltimore's recently convicted Mayor Sheila Dixon.
Mayor Dixon was convicted earlier this month of embezzling retail gift cards that were meant for Baltimore's poor. Mayor Dixon's conviction was even discussed on Jay Leno's show. Despite Mayor Dixon's conviction, she has refused to step down and her highly respected legal team is working to overturn her conviction.
According to the Baltimore Sun, one of Mayor Dixon's legal arguments to overturn her conviction pertains to Facebook friending. It appears that several of the jurors friended each other on Facebook during the trial. This is a novel argument and I am not aware of any on point case law regarding this issue. During the past couple of years, there have been several publicized legal matters where the participants have Facebook friended each other. However, this is the first time that a high-profile case has had to deal with whether Facebook friending by jurors during a trial is considered misconduct. If Facebook friending is ruled to be juror misconduct it may be possible for Mayor Dixon's conviction to be overturned.
On September 10, 2009, I blogged about San Francisco Superior Court's court rules that go into effect in the new year regarding social media usuage by jurors. At that time, I stated that these rules should be implemented across the country. This case demonstrates the need for such rules.
A hearing is scheduled for January 6, 2010 regarding potential juror misconduct relating to Mayor Dixon's trial and I am interested in how the court will rule. Facebook friending is just one of the many social media law issues that the courts will need to address in the coming decade.
I wish all of my readers a happy and healthy new year and new decade.
Copyright 2009 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
Mayor Dixon was convicted earlier this month of embezzling retail gift cards that were meant for Baltimore's poor. Mayor Dixon's conviction was even discussed on Jay Leno's show. Despite Mayor Dixon's conviction, she has refused to step down and her highly respected legal team is working to overturn her conviction.
According to the Baltimore Sun, one of Mayor Dixon's legal arguments to overturn her conviction pertains to Facebook friending. It appears that several of the jurors friended each other on Facebook during the trial. This is a novel argument and I am not aware of any on point case law regarding this issue. During the past couple of years, there have been several publicized legal matters where the participants have Facebook friended each other. However, this is the first time that a high-profile case has had to deal with whether Facebook friending by jurors during a trial is considered misconduct. If Facebook friending is ruled to be juror misconduct it may be possible for Mayor Dixon's conviction to be overturned.
On September 10, 2009, I blogged about San Francisco Superior Court's court rules that go into effect in the new year regarding social media usuage by jurors. At that time, I stated that these rules should be implemented across the country. This case demonstrates the need for such rules.
A hearing is scheduled for January 6, 2010 regarding potential juror misconduct relating to Mayor Dixon's trial and I am interested in how the court will rule. Facebook friending is just one of the many social media law issues that the courts will need to address in the coming decade.
I wish all of my readers a happy and healthy new year and new decade.
Copyright 2009 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.
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