Death Row Inmate Gets New Trial Because of Twitter

'The Restaurant of Broken Dreams' in 140-word blurbs

(NEWSER) - A cup of Coke, a pile of fries ... and thou. It could have been a tender romantic interlude between a young married couple spotted at a Boston Burger King. Instead, it turned out to be a painful bitch-fest as husband and wife battled mighty ugly in front of a stunned onlooker at the next table. So what's a fellow fast-food connoisseur to do? Tweet the whole ugly mess, of course, turning it into a quickie anti-romantic novel in 140-word increments. That's what Andy Boyle, web developer for the Boston Globe did, and it turned into a Twitter blockbuster. More»

Most of the time power is used, it's to impose the death penalty

(NEWSER) - It sounds sensible, even merciful: Alabama judges are allowed to override the decisions of capital juries. Justice Thurgood Marshall, a staunch death penalty opponent, was in favor of the system, because it allows "someone who had seen more than one case" to make the ultimate decision, says one retired Mobile judge. But, contrary to what you might think, most judges don't take advantage of the system in order to protect defendants from a potentially vengeful jury—quite the opposite, in fact. More»

Supreme Court rules over bizarre gift from jurors to judge

(NEWSER) - A Georgia death row inmate may win a reprieve because of a chocolate penis and pair of breasts. Jurors at the 1993 murder trial of Marcus Wellons sent the lewd gifts to the judge and chief bailiff after Wellons was sentenced to death. "There were unusual events going on behind the scenes" at that trial, the Supreme Court decided yesterday, ruling that Atlanta's federal appeals court should take a closer look at the case. More»

Lack of 'persnickety' people helped retrial avoid second deadlock

(NEWSER) - Twelve agreeable jurors made all the difference between Phil Spector's two murder trials, lawyers from both sides tell the Los Angeles Times. The jurors who this week voted unanimously to convict heard the same evidence as the jury that deadlocked in 2007, prosecutors and the music legend's lawyer say, but they bonded over the course of the case, avoiding the discord that plagued the first panel. More»

(NEWSER) - A defendant found liable for $12.6 million in an Arkansas civil matter asked for a new trial because one juror Tweeted about the case from the courtroom, the Springdale Morning News reports. “Juror Jonathan’s” Twitter entries included “Oh and nobody buy Stoam,” the foam/steel hybrid the defendant sold; and “So Jonathan, what did you do today? Oh nothing really, I just gave away $12 MILLION of somebody else’s money.” More»