PHOENIX — Social media has had a profound impact on many industries and areas of our society and it turns out, the legal system has felt the impact, too.
Social media is known to change one's perspective of another person and that can be a problem when it comes to jury selection.
12News sat down with longtime Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joseph Kreamer to discuss the challenges of social media and highly publicized cases in courtrooms.
"People put information out there about cases and are discussing things before jurors get into the courtroom.”
“I love my job. This is a great job full of great professionals here on our bench," Kreamer said.
Kreamer worked as a lawyer for 16 years and has now been a judge for nearly 17 years. In addition to sitting on the bench as a criminal judge, he leads the court's Jury Advisory Committee.
“Juries are what make our system of justice different. There is a right to a jury trial guarantee in the Constitution," Kreamer said.
12News asked Kreamer how much more challenging it has been to select juries over his years behind the bench with cases getting publicity both on traditional media and social media.
“It poses a real challenge," Kreamer said. "And that challenge has evolved over the years and I think gotten more difficult."
Kreamer knows firsthand.
In 2013, he presided over the retrial of the Buddhist Temple murder case, the deadliest mass shooting in Arizona's history.
“We were concerned about how many people knew about the case, had they read about it and you worry about that because people hear about cases and they develop attitudes or beliefs about a case that might make them unfair to one side or the other," Kreamer explained.
But Kreamer said the challenges of today are even greater than those of 11 years ago primarily because of social media.
“People can learn about cases, some things that may actually be true and some things may not be, whether it's through the media, or more importantly, through social media," Kreamer said. "Whether it's someone's X account or Instagram story, people put information out there about cases and are discussing things before jurors get into the courtroom.”
Kreamer said well-known cases can often lead to a longer jury selection process. When the jurors are ultimately picked, the court now gives them specific instructions about staying off of social media.
Reminders are also posted around the court's jury assembly room.
12News also asked Kreamer if he was able to pinpoint exactly when he started telling jurors to avoid social media.
“That's an interesting question because back when I started as a lawyer and a judge, I would just tell people, 'Don't do any research about the case,'" Kreamer said. "I think about 10 to 15 years ago, from my perspective, we had to be very direct with jurors to say these are the things you cannot do. Not just generally don't learn about the case. We talk about Instagram, we talk about what used to be Twitter, we talk about all those methods that people essentially get onto social media, communicate with other people and learn about things and say you cannot do this. And we tell them the consequence for that."
In highly publicized cases, legal teams do have the option to request a change of venue, asking to move the trial to another county. Kreamer, though, said that is rarely requested or granted.
“I can't remember the last time that venue actually got changed because, in part, in Maricopa County, in Pinal County, wherever it is, with social media, everybody seems to know everything about cases anyway," Kreamer said.
Kreamer said given all of the challenges the court faces to select an unbiased and fair jury, it reinforces the importance of taking jury summons seriously. He encourages citizens to shift their perspective on receiving a summons in the mail and instead look at it as an opportunity to participate in one of the most important parts of our justice system.
"If you talk to people who have served on juries, and I've now presided over around one hundred trials, I think they say, 'You know what, that was an inconvenience. Yes, I did groan when I got the jury summons. But that was a worthwhile experience. I got to see a real trial, I got to participate.' And it was really meaningful no matter what kind of case that they serve on," Kreamer said.
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