Archive for March 2012

On March 14, 2012, the Supreme Court held in MISSOURI v. FRYE that criminal defendants have a constitutional right to effective lawyers during plea negotiations. MISSOURI v. FRYE Facts: Frye was charged with driving with a revoked license. Be¬cause he had been convicted of the same offense three times before, he was charged, under Missouri…

The first known New Jersey case of a juror punished for doing his own internet research. On March 12, 2012, Judge Peter Doyne has imposed a $500 criminal contempt sanction on Daniel Kaminsky, a jury foreman, whose actions led to a mistrial. Kaminsky did independent research during the jury-deliberation stage and learned about the sentence…