Blog Comments Put Grand Juror in Hot Seat

(Dallas, Texas) A Dallas County grand juror decided to participate in a comment thread on a blog, discussing the grand jury, and now a court needs to determine whether a defendant's rights have been violated.

Apparently, the grand juror doesn't know what the word "secret" means.

A grand juror who last month helped indict a teacher accused of having sex with a student is now under investigation for posting comments about the case on a blog, according to court records.

It is illegal for grand jurors to make details of their proceedings public.

John Grau, the chief prosecutor in the intake/grand jury division, declined to say whether the grand juror would be charged with contempt of court. He said the Dallas County district attorney's office was looking into the postings and that he couldn't comment.

But the teacher's defense attorneys, David Finn and Toby Shook, are asking for a court hearing regarding the juror's conduct and whether the rights of their client, David B. Novinski, were violated. They want to know if the grand juror investigated the case before Mr. Novinski was indicted, if he shared that information with other jurors and if there are additional postings. No date has been set for a hearing.

Readers can view the grand juror's comments here. Look for the nickname "Knows status."

The possible outcome of this situation may include prosecution of the noncompliant grand juror and/or nullification of selected grand jury proceedings. In any event, the subject grand juror has perched himself/herself in a prime position to be made an example of. Obviously, this story will continue.