The jury will keep deliberating the fate of the former USF professor.
Judge James S. Moody Jr. has denied a motion by the four defendants in the Sami Al-Arian case for a mistrial after one juror reported that an Al-Arian-related news item was inadvertantly left in their morning Tampa Tribune before Thanksgiving. The tiny item was an unscientific tbo.com poll asking readers if they thought the jury would find Al-Arian guilty or not guilty. Under the title "Court of Public Opinion," the survey reported that 87 percent believed that the jury will find Al-Arian guilty.
Moody denied the motion because it was the defense attorneys' responsibility to tell court officials of any daily newspaper stories that should be clipped out before jurors get the papers daily, and they hadn't requested the removal of that item. It is also not known if any jurors other than the one who reported the item saw it.
Beyond the issues of a fair trial, however, is the idea that the daily paper is stoking public opinion about the outcome of the trial even as the jury deliberates.Here's an idea: Let the jury decide and then write all you want about that decision. The case has been extraordinarily dull, there's no doubt, but still, why screw around with what little shot the defendants have at a fair trial?
This article appears in Nov 30 – Dec 6, 2005.