Jurors Remarks [on Yahoo message board) brings on Mistrial

Star-Telegram ^ | March 27, 2005 | Ben Tinsley

[The Real Indepman]

"FORT WORTH - A judge ordered a new trial in an aggravated-assault case after learning that a juror belittled the defendant on the Internet before a verdict had been reached.

On Monday, state District Judge Sharen Wilson overturned the March 10 conviction of Raymond David Newsome because of juror misconduct. Newsome was convicted for the beating of a 73-year-old guard outside Grapevine Mills mall.

The juror, posted remarks on a Yahoo Web page calling Newsome a "scumsucking liberal" and a "bum" during the course of Newsome's aggravated-assault trial.

Wilson, who declined to discuss the case, set the retrial for July 11, court records show. A prosecutor said no charges will be filed against the juror.

Derouin, who could not be found for comment Thursday, posted his remarks under the title of "The Aggravator," court documents show. "Ya'all know I have been on jury duty all week," Derouin said in one post. "Well, we found that scumsucking liberal criminal guilty. Tomorrow is sentencing!"

Rex Barnett, Newsome's trial attorney, said someone who noticed the postings e-mailed him a couple of days after Newsome's trial. He brought the messages to the attention of Bill Harris, Newsome's appeal attorney.

Harris and Shawn Paschall, Tarrant County assistant district attorney, sought the poster's identity by subpoenaing Yahoo, which provided the information after about two weeks. Harris then sought to overturn the verdict."

[The Real Indepman]

The story behind this story is that a stalker on the yahoo message board made this happen:

http://beta.messages.yahoo.com/Cultures_%26_Community/Issues_and_Causes/Current_Events/US%255FNews/threadview?bn=7088116-presidentialelection2000&tid=3416485&mid=3416706

http://beta.messages.yahoo.com/Cultures_%26_Community/Issues_and_Causes/Current_Events/US%255FNews/threadview?bn=7088116-presidentialelection2000&tid=3416485&mid=3416663

Here's the type of liberal they have over there:

http://beta.messages.yahoo.com/search?q=your_november_surprise&type=all&action=Search

[ken in texas]

We're all aware of the types of liberals out there.

What we have here is a juror that couldn't keep his fat mouth shut until discharged by the judge.

[The Real Indepman]

ken,

No doubt the poster was in the wrong. However, the stalker over on the Yahoo message board stalked him to find out which case he was on. THe poster never revealed any information about the case, just an opinion about the suspectm which is why he doesn't face charges. The stalker that did this, wasn't after justice for the guy that beat the living crap out of an elderly man and robbed him, but was after a poster he disagreed with. Again, the poster was wrong to discuss anything about the case in any way, but what of the stalker?

[ken in texas]

I took a quick spin through the URLs you provided. I might have missed it, but didn't see anything to indicate that the poster was "stalked", so am unsure exactly what you mean by that. Maybe you've got a more specific reference.

In any event, by posting opinions on a trial on a public Internet message board the juror opened himself up to behavior like this.