According to the Broward New Times, Terri Wright, a juror on Buju Banton’s federal drug and gun trial, says she is so passionate about law that, if possible, she would be a “professional juror”. Wright was so passionate that she diligently researched Buju Banton’s case to better understand certain issues.
Wright told the New Times, that she “would get in the car, just write my notes down so I could remember, and I would come home and do the research”.
Wright also told the New Times “I don’t think what I found out would have changed how I thought.” That may be true, but researching, going online and studying any case-related matters are a violation of the juror’s rules. Standard jury instructions for federal trials tell jurors to “not attempt to research any fact, issue or law related to this case, whether by discussion with others, by library or Internet research, or by any other means or source.”
Buju’s new attorney Chokwe Lumumba has expressed that if this is the case and Ms. Wright has indeed violated the court’s orders, he will pursue it.
Amy Filjones, a spokeswoman for the United State’s Attorney’s Office that prosecuted Buju, declined to comment on the matter.
Buju is scheduled appear in a federal courtroom later this month for resentencing on the gun charge. It’s expected the judge will add five years to his sentence.
