Think Twitter is worthless chatter? Unless you think $12.6 million dollars is chump change, think again.
On Thursday, a defendant who was ordered to fork over $12.6 million dollars in a civil trial asked for a new trial because one of the jurors allegedly “Twittered” about the proceedings during the trial. Oh, and all of this happened right here in Fayetteville.
Lawyers for the defendant in the trial Stoam Holdings filed a motion for a new Trial on Thursday, alleging that Fayetteville resident Johnathan Powell sent 8 “tweets” about the case during a civil trial that resulted in a 12.6 million dollar judgement in favor of plaintiffs Mark Deihl and William Nystrom, and that the juror researched information about the case and communicated with others outside the jury about the case.
Twitter isn’t new, but the micro-blogging service has become extremely popular recently, and is a buzzword all over the media these days. This case is already making national news.
We got in touch with Johnathan, who granted us an interview if we promised to spell his name right. For the record, it’s Johnathan with a “h”.
Fayetteville Flyer: What have you been listening to lately?
Johnathan Powell: Mostly ABBA and Big & Rich (I kid!). I’m more of a podcast nerd. I listen constantly to things like This Week in Tech and Diggnation. Fayetteville could use some podcasts!
FF: How long did the trial last?
JP: The best I remember, from Jury Selection to leaving, the trial lasted from 9:00am to about 3:45pm on February 26th.
FF: Of tweets in question, these two stand out.
- “Oh and nobody buy Stoam. Its bad mojo and they’ll probably cease to Exist, now that their wallet is 12m lighter. http://www.stoam.com”
- “So, Johnathan, what did you do today?” Oh, nothing really. I just gave away TWELVE MILLION DOLLARS of somebody else’s money!”
Seems to us these happened after the trial. When did you write those?
JP: I posted those to Twitter after I had already gotten home. It was after the verdict was handed down.
FF: You said this morning “I’m not concerned because I didn’t do anything wrong.” Can you elaborate on that.
JP: The rule was to not talk to anyone about the trial, during the trial. I didn’t talk about the trial, unless you count the quality of Penguin Ed’s french fries. We were allowed to have our cellphones and use them during the breaks. There was no rule against texting, or in my case, Tweeting.
FF: Do you think Stoam Holdings should be granted a new trial?
JP: Not a chance. And even if they were, I’m sure they’d get the exact same outcome. They told us going in that he was guilty. It was just our job to figure out how much he owed. Wright didn’t even bother to show up to his own trial.
FF: When did you find out that Russel Wright was asking for a new trial?
JP: Last night when I was told about the Morning News article.
FF: You said this morning “Back from the courthouse. Judge would not see me without all lawyers involved present.” Is there another meeting with the judge and the attorney’s set?
JP: No. I haven’t talked to any of the lawyers involved. I’m sure they have my number if they need me.
FF: What is being said to you as far as personal legal ramifications this might have on you. Are you going to have to hire a lawyer?
JP: I have been given words of advice from lots of friends and family ranging from, “Don’t sweat it.” to, “Hire a team of lawyers now!” I’m going with the don’t sweat it approach for now. My biggest fear is that the people in charge won’t understand the technology, and that will work against me.
FF: When you wrote the above messages, did you even consider that any of this might happen?
JP: Not at all. I paid very close attention at the trial and followed all of their rules. I even took like twenty pages of notes! I was not trying to shake up the system here. I was just doing what I do every day.
[...] UPDATE: The Fayetteville Flyer blog lands an exclusive interview with the Tweeting Juror. [...]
[...] with new information in the aftermath of Powell’s delayed meeting with the judge. Meanwhile, Powell speaks to the Fayetteville Flyer about the case, and says he wasn’t trying to shake up the legal system with all this crazy Twitterin’. [...]
Way to report Dustin!
Sounds like he followed the rules and all the ‘tweets’ are time stamped so I can’t see any impropriety.
But I’ve been following tech v. legal ever since the RIAA sued to prevent the Diamond Rio from coming to market and JP is right. It all comes down to lawyers and judges possessing even a basic understanding of technology.
Exactly. Johnathan said something that is very important. “My biggest fear is that the people in charge won’t understand the technology” This is going to become more and more of an issue as technology continues to make it’s way deeper into everyone’s daily lives. As a side note: the word “app” is now a household word. Off the subject i know but i just think it’s interesting.
This is a great story (and i applaud your quickness), but how did you forget to ask “so what have you been listening to lately?”
Old people think if you twitter you’re on drugs, or you’re trying to destroy the government.
[...] The Fayetteville Flyer gets an exclusive with this happy-go-lucky [...]
chancevb: You are so right. Added. Check it out above.
I’m getting a real kick out of the #tweetjuror saga. Thanks for adding color to the story, Flyer.
Johnathan, I just wanted to invite you to check out my podcast from Fayetteville. It’s mostly music but I almost always take time to ask the musicians how they feel about Fayetteville (universally positive response), and a bit about current events. Podcast feed is here for the savvy to subscribe:
http://dgold.info/radio/webcast/podcast/feed
Dgold even interviewed all of the mayoral candidates. Checkitout.
I saw somewhere, someone was making a case that this was some new media showdown. News cameras are routinely shut out of courtrooms. Gag orders are common. It’s more about the judge controlling everything going in and out of the courtroom.
Some of the tweets remind me of back when I worked in Fayetteville, and I was shooting video of the Gregory Decay trial. You have to shoot in a small booth from a behind a mirrored glass panel, which is set up behind the jury. Between the courtroom and where the jury deliberates is a lobby that most photographers wait around in because the booth is so small. But sitting there, you see the jurors go back and forth. I can remember being especially sensitive to everything, it being my first murder trial. When the jurors came out of the deliberation room and back into the courtroom, I saw smugness on some of the faces. Like a mix of solemness and self importance. I knew they were coming back with a death sentence just from their look. For days afterward, I imagined them at home or with friends and taking every opportunity to mention that they had voted for a man to die. “oh yeah!? well, I sent a man to death! try making THAT decision!”
So, when I read “So, Johnathan, what did you do today?” Oh, nothing really. I just gave away TWELVE MILLION DOLLARS of somebody else’s money!” it kind of reminds me of those smug, self-important faces.
Did he do anything illegal? Nah, probably not. I’m sure any meetings or investigations are to be certain nothing happened during the trial (like receiving other tweets or tweeting on another account or text messages about the trial, etc. — something that goes beyond timestamps, you internet sleuths.)
I’d like to clear a few things up. First of all, there has been a lot of complaining about me tweeting ‘in the courtroom’. I never once even turned my phone on in the courtroom, much less tweet from it. All tweets were sent from the holding room or jury room. Second, here is a breakdown of EVERY tweet I sent that day:
1. trying to learn about jury duty for tomorrow, but all searches lead me to suggestions for getting out of it, instead of rocking it. 12:22 AM Feb 26th from digsby
This was the night before I had to serve. I was totally looking forward to it, and even doing a bit of (unsuccessful) research on what to expect.
2. I guess Im early. Two Angry Men just wont do. 8:44 AM Feb 26th from txt
This was in the jury holding room. Hadn’t even been into the court room yet. As of now, I didn’t even know that I’d be on jury duty.
3. Im the only one who brought toys: my laptop and a book 8:57 AM Feb 26th from txt
Still in the holding room. Feeling a bit awkward having a messenger bag. Read my book.
4. I got selected 10:14 AM Feb 26th from txt
Between tweet 3 and 4 over an hour passed. I was in the courtroom during that hour, being selected for the jury. I did not post this message until they excused us to the jury room.
5. And the verdict is…Penguin Eds can not make fries 12:25 PM Feb 26th from txt
Back in the jury room at lunch. And yes, those were some nasty fries.
And that was it for what I tweeted during the trial. At around 3:45 I went home.
6. “So, Johnathan, what did you do today?” Oh, nothing really. I just gave away TWELVE MILLION DOLLARS of somebody else’s money! 4:09 PM Feb 26th from Ping.fm
and 7. Oh, and nobody buy Stoam. It’s bad mojo, and they’ll probably cease to exist, now that their wallet is $12M lighter. http://www.stoam.com/4:43 PM Feb 26th from Ping.fm
Tweeted from my home computer. How do I know? I only tweet via text message from my phone, and this one is via Ping.fm, a site that makes it easy to tweet and post to Facebook and any other social network all at once. Very convenient. Besides, I didn’t know they had an active website until I got home and googled it.
Matty above says I was being a classless asshole for posting what I did about the guy. My response is that you didn’t see the trial. He was a bad guy during his deposition and there were so many facts in the case to back that up. This case wasn’t to find him guilty, other jurors (I guess) had already done that. We were just there to decide how much he owed. If anything I was reserved in my comments of him, and he deserves to lose his money. And eleven other people agree with me.
One last thing. The comments I made about him may not be nice, but I made them outside the courtroom after the verdict had been handed down. I may not have been nice, but that’s the great thing about amendment number one: I don’t have to.
[...] in an interview with the FayettevilleFlyer, Johnathan has pointed out that the tweets were sent after the verdict. “I didn’t [...]
I tweeted twice at dinner tonight. I love pad thai but…
yrfuneral:
Ah ha ha ha! Zing!
I’m all for the technology, but must we all tweet?
OMG ur fmus
I think the current amount of tweeting is quite entertaining. The Dinosaur House is split on the verdict on tweetjuror.
Jimmy Fallon tried to make a joke about this on his show last night but he completely got the story wrong and the joke. He said, “An Arkansas man is appealing his conviction because the judge was using Twitter in the trial. The man first became suspicious when the judge limited the number of witnesses to 140 characters.” No one got it. You can watch it here at http://www.nbc.com/late-night-with-jimmy-fallon/video/episodes/?vid=1063366#vid=1063366
I saw that. Wow, Fallon was terrible last night.
I’m thinking his show is getting worse instead of better.
[...] here? Cool. Over the past 3 months, we’ve seen everything from a tweeting juror, controversy over a tweeting city councilperson, people calling twitter rude, letters to the editor [...]