Blogs

When it is the notes of a juror in a case. I found this to be an interesting comment in relation to some highlights I was viewing in a high level case here in FL. The comment was related to the collection and destruction of juror notes at the end of the case. Apparently each day the note pads are collected and made secure until the end of the trial when they are collected and detroyed. The reason I fond this of interest is that the case is held in a court which is a government entity. The note are therfore part of the decision making process for the verdict which under my interpretation of what constitues a record for government is any and all information under Freedom of Information Act and also the element that it is used in support of a decision making process.

Now I know this may seem like a stretch but it really caught my attention that the only records kept are those of the Clerk and the evidientiaty materials provided by both prosectution and defense. Not being a laywer or Judge, I am not at the level of expertise to justufy the destruction but then again from a record keeping perspective, I have to question why? At minimum, I would expect that these notes would be scanned and kept as part of the overall court/case record and retained for the same period of time any of the court records would be kept. I also found that it can and does vary based on case type and even districts.

In my view, this is an example of where definition is in need of clarification for consistency. The fact jurors can and do take notes to form a decision indicates this is critical information related to the case at large. The reference to collection and destruction of the notes indicates there is a guideline and process dictating when and how this is to happen. Yet I have not been able to clearly identify where these guidelines and procedural elements can be found. So I pose this question, why would you not keep these notes as a matter of record? Can you help me understand this and I enocurage you to post your views and knowledge or experience related to this subject.