#TheaterTrial: Legal expert weighs in on juror’s name released

A judge banned a news magazine after it identified a juror in the trial for Aurora Theater shooter James Holmes.

Before prosecutors began closing arguments in phase one of the sentencing trial Wednesday, the judge banned Newsweek magazine from attending the rest of the trial.

The news magazine posted the jury foreman’s name on Twitter last week, violating a court order barring news organizations from identifying jurors.

But District Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. did not issue a contempt-of-court citation against Newsweek amid the sentencing phase of the trial Wednesday.

The juror in question told the judge he was concerned about being identified and said it was “not cool.”

The jury foreman was a survivor of the 1999 Columbine High School shooting and was a friend of one of the victims.

Samour lambasted the reporter later. He ruled that the juror could remain on the jury because he heard about the tweet but didn’t read the story.

Attorney Josh Tolini has been practicing law in Colorado Springs for 18 years and worked with clients facing the death penalty. He said jurors names are kept private to protect them as well as the integrity of the trial.

Tolini said by keeping jurors anonymous, they are not subject to pressure from the community when making decisions.

Tolini said Holmes’ defense will likely spend the night preparing an argument as to why the juror should be removed.

“They may not have done it right now but they are probably figuring out the legal ramifications and how to make their argument as best they can,” said Tolini.

If not, the issue will likely be revisited if the jury sentences Holmes to death and the case is appealed. Tolini said a new set of attorneys will come in and scrutinize the previous defense team’s decisions. He said the new attorneys would argue Holmes didn’t have the right to a fair trial because the juror identified may have received outside pressure that swayed his decision.

“How does this impact his fair trial as a whole?” said Tolini.

The managing editor of Newsweek, Kira Bindrim tweeted about the incident:

“We deserved that ban, shaming, and Daily Beast confusion. Big fat unfortunate mistakes were made & we regret them. #TheaterTrial”