[greyshep]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

A question for anyone with knowledge of our legal system, from all the way back on page 1 of this thread. There was a quote from the judge telling the jurors not to google the garland case lest they may become influenced by what they find online.

This is really surprising to me because a friend of mine just did jury duty for a fairly prominent case here in Calgary and he said that it was absolutely insane how sequestered they were for the entire trial. No contact with the outside world, no TV, no Internet, no radio, no cell phone, no talking to family. All stayed at a hotel and under guard 24/7. Jurors couldn't even go for a smoke alone or talk to the hotel staff. They were totally shut out of civilization, except the trial, for a significant period of time. And the way he described it, it wasn't just after main trial while they were deliberating, it was the whole time.

So why would the judge be worried about jurors googling the case?

Also, jury duty sounded like hell. He said several of the jurors really didn't want to be there because they were hurt bad financially by being forced to attend. Like a stay at home mom on the jury who took care of her young kids while dad worked. They only let you out of jury duty if you are the only income. But it forced them to spend thousands they couldn't afford on child care while the trial was going on. And multiple jurors had similar stories.

Sorry for the derail, just really curious. This is obviously a tragic case and the guy sounds to be guilty as sin.

I thought I had read that the jury in this case isn't actually sequestered and won't be until deliberations begin. But what you describe sounds pretty unfair.