Spill trial: Lawyers chided for contacting jurors
Source: AP
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday ordered lawyers for a former BP engineer to refrain from any further contact with jurors who convicted the engineer of trying to obstruct a federal probe of the company's 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Kurt Mix's attorneys have said they interviewed some jurors after the Dec. 18 verdict and found evidence of juror misconduct that warrants a new trial.
In Thursday's order, U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. said he is concerned about the "appropriateness" of lawyers interviewing jurors without his permission. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has "expressed general hostility toward the practice of post-trial juror interviews," the judge noted.
Duval instructed Mix's attorneys and Justice Department prosecutors to submit written arguments by Jan. 24 on whether the defense lawyers' contact with jurors should affect their motion for a new trial. Duval is set to hear arguments Feb. 26 on the motion for a new trial.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/spill-trial-lawyers-chided-contacting-jurors
