More cautions to the jury
The judge is reminding jurors not to talk to anyone about the case or post online in any way anything they discuss in the jury room. “If you come across anyone, in an elevator or at lunch, involved in this case, don’t talk to them.
“When you go home at the end of the day, people will be interested in what happened. Tell them you cannot discuss the trial. You can tell them about the general nature of the charges, but don’t go further than that.”
It might be tempting during the trial to jump to conclusions, but jurors must resist that temptation, the judge says. “The importance or weight of a piece of evidence can only be determined when you hear the evidence as a whole.”
The judge urged jurors not to make assumptions about what constitutes sexual assault, what kind of person might commit sexual assault, or what kind of person might be the victim of a sexual assault. Also, Carroccia said, don’t make assumptions about what a consensual sexual encounter might look like.
