One day after the Supreme court ruled that the public must be allowed into court during jury selection, a federal judge in Dallas declared a mistrial in a case because the jury was selected in a closed session. -DB
Politico
January 20, 2010
By Josh Gerstein
The Supreme Court gets results.
Just yesterday morning, the justices issued a 7-2 decision that I described as “an unflinching opinion” insisting that the public must be permitted to view jury selection in criminal trials except where any reasonable alternative to closure has been considered and deemed unworkable.
Jason Trahan, courts reporter for the Dallas Morning News sends word this morning that a federal judge in an extortion trial in Dallas declared a mistrial in the case and scuttled opening statements today because she had allowed the jury to be selected behind closed doors just as the Supreme Court ruling was being released yesterday.
“The court does not believe it is required to grant the motion for mistrial, but out of an abundance of caution, I do,” Judge Barbara Lynn said this morning before sending the jurors on their way and summoning 200 more potential jurors for a new voir dire process, the DMN reports.
“This is the first time I’ve had to do this in 10 years on the bench. We are going to start again. I’m excusing all of you. It had nothing to do with anything you have done. We appreciate your time and attention, and you would have given a fair trial to the government and the defense, but we are going to select a new jury,” Lynn said.
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