Jury Members Saw ‘Push Alerts’ Tipping Them To Judge’s Plan To Dismiss Sarah Palin Libel Case Against The New York Times

deadline.com:

Before the jury rendered its verdict in favor of the New York Times in Sarah Palin’s libel trial, some of its members say that they were tipped to the judge’s plan to dismiss the case.U.S.

District Judge Jed Rakoff revealed on Wednesday that several jurors volunteered to the law clerk that they learned of his plan to toss out the lawsuit, on the grounds that Palin’s attorneys failed to prove “actual malice” during the trial.

Rakoff announced his decision Monday, but said he would continue to allow the jury to deliberate and reach a verdict because of the likelihood of an appeal.“These jurors reported that although they had been assiduously adhering to the court’s instruction to avoid media coverage of the trial, they had involuntarily received ‘push notifications’ on their smartphones that contained the bottom line of the ruling,” Rakoff wrote.He added that the jurors “repeatedly assured the court’s law clerk that these notifications had not affected them in any way or played any role whatever in their deliberations.”The jury’s verdict was unanimous, and likely gave the Times a more solid legal footing in an appeal.

But Rakoff’s revelation opens up the possibility of Palin’s team using the information in further motions or on an appeal.In his filing, Rakoff noted that none of the parties objected to his plan to reveal his decision on whether to dismiss the case and still let the jury render its own verdict.