Trial by Impartial Jury

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Ankur Roy

Case No.: 15-2202

Officials: POSNER, WILLIAMS, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Trial by Impartial Jury

No egregious jury misconduct occurred that warranted remedial measures by presiding Judge.

“The unhappy truth, emphasized both in United States v. Farmer, supra, 717 F.3d at 564, and in other cases, notably the Supreme Court’s decision in Tanner v. United States, supra, 483 U.S. at 120–21, is that, imperfect as our jury system undoubtedly is, see, e.g., Joel Cohen, “Helping Juries to Better Reach Untainted Verdicts,” HuffPost Crime, Feb. 16, 2016, www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-cohen/helping-juries-to-better -_b_9237828.html (visited April 15, 2016), we are stuck with it. And so there is no satisfactory alternative to our standing back and according a large measure of deference to the trial judge’s handling of the complaints of a juror concerning the jury’s discussions before deliberations. Only the failure of the judge to take remedial measures (such as ordering a retrial) regarding palpable, egregious jury misconduct, or impermissible external influence on the jury, would justify our intervening, as we did in United States v. Vasquez-Ruiz, 502 F.3d 700 (7th Cir. 2007). This is not such a case.”

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.