A battle over the cellphone data of “Juror X,” who repeatedly posted on Facebook about her involvement in a high-profile Ohio case, has intensified.
In a recently released order, Judge Douglas Cole allowed prosecutors and defense lawyers to question two more jurors about possible improper influences during the trial of P.G. Sittenfeld, a former Cincinnati city councilman convicted of a pair of corruption charges last month. His trial was held in Cole’s courtroom in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Cincinnati.
Earlier this month, Cole refused to allow forensic examination of Juror X’s cellphone, prompting Sittenfeld’s lawyers to escalate that request to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The attorneys seek an emergency order because “the electronic communications at issue are highly likely to be lost or destroyed if not produced immediately,” an Aug. 15 appeals court filing says….