Tucker Carlson’s televised attacks on the foreman of the Roger Stone jury came under blistering attack by Judge Amy Berman Jackson yesterday during his hearing for a new trial.
Stone’s request, coincidentally also based on claims of juror misconduct, was taken under advisement by Jackson yesterday. However, she did not wait to rip Carlson for jeopardizing the juror's safety. From NBC News:
[Jackson] noted that Fox News host Tucker Carlson has gone after the forewoman on air, having blasted her as an "anti-Trump zealot."
"Any attempts to invade the privacy of the jurors or to harass or intimidate them is completely antithetical to our system of justice," Jackson said, noting that they could also jeopardize jurors' safety. "Individuals who are angry about Mr. Stone's conviction may choose to take it out on them personally."
Not surprisingly, if there was any negligence regarding the juror, it probably came from Stone’s legal team for not catching then what they now say is grounds for a new trial. More from NBC News (my emphases added):
Stone's attorneys focused on an answer in her jury questionnaire, in which she hadn't answered a yes-or-no question about whether she had written "anything for public consumption" about Stone or special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. In a space provided for more information, she wrote: "I can't remember. I may have. I'm honestly not sure."
Stone's attorneys never asked her about her the response.
…
The judge suggested that [the juror’s supposedly biased internet] posts could have been easily discovered by Stone's team of lawyers and jury consultants during jury selection with a simple Google search. Stone attorney Robert Buschel acknowledged that they hadn't done one. … Buschel responded that the team didn't have enough resources to run such checks.
Oh, and one of the forewoman’s fellow jurors wrote an editorial in The Washington Post defending her and their process.
Not surprisingly, Carlson responded by attacking the judge. I’ll have more on that in my next post.
(H/T reader Eric Jefferson)
(Carlson image via screen grab)
