Death row inmate gets new trial because of tweeting juror

A death row inmate in Arkansas had his murder conviction quashed because a juror tweeted during court proceedings.

Erickson Dimas-Martinez, who was sentenced to death for robbing and shooting a teenager in 2006, was granted a retrial yesterday, after winning his appeal in the Supreme Court.

Dimas-Martinez, now 26, was sent to death row for robbing and shooting a teenager after a party in northwest Arkansas in 2006.

His lawyers had appealed his 2010 murder conviction in Arkansas because a juror sent tweets despite the judge's instruction not to post on the internet or communicate with anyone about the case.

The lawyers also complained that another juror slept.

In one tweet, juror Randy Franco wrote: "Choices to be made. Hearts to be broken ... We each define the great line."

Less than an hour before the jury announced its verdict, he tweeted: "It's over."

Other tweets by Franco, known as Juror 2 in court documents, made passing references to the trial, with posts such as, "The coffee sucks here" and "Court. Day 5. here we go again."

Franco did not respond to requests for comment, but he has defended his tweets in the past.

"None of my texts indicated anything about the trial," he told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette last year. "I hadn't made up my mind."

That explanation seemed to satisfy a lower court judge, but it didn't sit well with the state's highest court.

"Because of the very nature of Twitter as an ... online social media site, Juror 2's tweets about the trial were very much public discussions. Even if such discussions were one-sided, it is in no way appropriate for a juror to state musings, thoughts, or other information about a case in such a public fashion," Associate Justice Donald Corbin wrote.

The justices also used the case to point out that a wide array of juror misconduct can come into play when jurors have unrestricted access to their mobile phones during a trial.

"Most mobile phones now allow instant access to a myriad of information. Not only can jurors access Facebook, Twitter, or other social media sites, but they can also access news sites that might have information about a case," Corbin wrote.

He also asked a panel to consider whether to limit jurors' access to mobile phones during trials.

Prosecutors said Dimas-Martinez held 17-year-old Derrick Jefferson at gunpoint and demanded his money before he shot him.

(Published by Herald Sun - December 9, 2011)