PITTSFIELD -- Social media has given a megaphone to people across the globe -- facilitating democratic uprisings and providing a window to the minutiae of daily life.
But Wednesday's dismissal of a local man from a Berkshire Superior Court jury shows that the rapid rise of new technologies also presents a host of questions about their legal and practical implications.
Great Barrington resident Seth Rogovoy was discharged Wednesday as a member of the jury for the child rape trial of priest Gary Mercure in Berkshire Superior Court.
Rogovoy, the editor of Berkshire Living magazine, was removed from the jury by Judge John A. Agostini after mentioning his jury duty several times on Twitter. The removal happened the day before Mercure was found guilty.
It was Rogovoy's final posting -- "I am in contempt of court, de facto if not de jure" -- that was brought to Agostini's attention by the Berkshire District Attorney's Office and led to the juror's discharge.
In an interview with The Eagle on Thursday, Rogovoy said the post was nothing more than a creative play on words, but in discharging him the day before, Agostini told Rogovoy he had violated specific orders regarding communication of any kind about the case.
To Continue Reading: Click Here
-----------------------------------------
Source: berkshireeagle.com
By: Trevor Jones
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment