New jury instructions in Indiana took effect on July 1, 2010. With the new instructions, jurors called to serve in Indiana will be given instructions that specifically address the use of electronic communication devices. Jurors will be told that they are not to use electronic devices in the courtroom. Jurors also will receive explicit instructions to not conduct online research while serving on the jury. The most interesting and unusual part of the instructions, though, is the instruction to jurors to refrain from talking to any of the parties, counsel, witnesses, or members of the media. “Talking” includes, says the instruction, “posting information, text messaging, email, Internet, chat rooms, blogs, or social websites.”
Here’s the link to the full text of the Indiana Supreme Court Order. We originally posted about the Indiana instructions back in May, when we posted a link to the Order in our Social Media Research Repository, where you also can find links to more than 20 other state and federal jury instructions that have bee revised to address the issue of social media.
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