Calif. High Court Revives Juror's Facebook Case
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The California Supreme Court has ordered a lower court to reconsider the case of a Sacramento juror who refused to turn over his Facebook postings about the trial he was deciding.
Arturo Ramirez served on a jury in a 2008 gang-related beating case. After the defendants were convicted, defense lawyers discovered Ramirez's Facebook account.
The Sacramento Bee reports that the postings mostly chronicled his attendance and at one point called the evidence "boring."
The defense asked the judge to retrieve all the postings to see if they showed bias, but Ramirez and Facebook refused the order, citing privacy rights.
On Thursday, the state's high court unanimously sent the case back to the 3rd District Court of Appeal, which previously had refused to take it up. The justices have suggested that the case carries some constitutional significance.
