Jury Re-Empaneled Moments After Impossible Verdict

Re-empaneling a jury moments after it returned a legally impossible verdict and was mistakenly dismissed wasn’t error, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held July 24 (Dietz v. Bouldin, 2015 BL 236924, 9th Cir., 13-35377, 7/24/15).

“[A] district court may re-empanel a jury shortly after dismissal, but only if, during the period of dismissal, the jurors were not exposed to any outside influences that would compromise their ability to fairly reconsider the verdict,” Judge Raymond C. Fisher wrote for the court.

It was the first time the Ninth Circuit has ruled on this issue. It ...