Conviction overturned because of MySpace
Police Blotter: MySpace profile sets convicted felon free:
40-year-old Danny Cecil of West Virginia was convicted for molesting two underage girls. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison. That was until November 21st when his conviction was overturned because two of the jurors had found one of the victim’s MySpace.
Here’s what the court of appeals had to say…
We are mindful that the independent investigation conducted by two of the jurors did not bear fruit, which arguably lessens the prejudicial effect, but notwithstanding that fact, the mere fact that members of a jury in a serious felony case conducted any extrajudicial investigation on their own is gross juror misconduct which simply cannot be permitted.
Now Cecil is free and lives only a few doors down from one of his victims. His new trial is to take place in the Spring. God forbid he should claim another victim in that time. If he does I hope those jurors can live with their decision.
Tags: child-molestation, conviction-overturned, danny-cecil, west-virginiaRelated Stories
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2 opinions for Conviction overturned because of MySpace
shadehg
Dec 1, 2007 at 4:46 am
That’s what happens when you put your fate in the hands of people too stupid to find a way to get out of jury duty!
Alyric
Dec 1, 2007 at 10:31 am
Ugh, there needs to be a default instruction to juries now that, regardless of what they may have seen on TV, they are not detectives and in fact are not permitted to perform their own investigations.
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