Juror replaced after posting guilty verdict on Facebook

When will people realise that what they post on the Internet is visible to all, and most likely will be found by people who you really do not want to see it?

The latest example of someone making an Internet post they wish they hadn’t came when twenty year old Hadley Jons, from Detroit, posted a comment on her Facebook profile about she believed the defendant in the trial that she was a jury member of was guilty – before the trial had actually finished.

Naturally, as any good defence lawyer does these days, every member of the jury was researched online. Defence lawyer Saleema Sheikh was delighted when her son Jaxon, who works with her at her office, discovered the comment made by one of the jury members about her client.

The indiscretion was pointed out to the judge, Diane Druzinski, who promptly removed the juror and warned her that she could be charged with contempt of court.

Local newspaper, The Macomb Daily, reported the judge as having told Jons:

“You don’t know how disturbing this is”

Defence lawyer Saleema Sheikh believes that Jons needs to be taught a lesson about the judicial system:

“I would like to see her get some jail time, nothing major, a few hours or overnight,” Sheikh said. “This is the jury system. People need to know how important it is.”

With Google and Facebook being as powerful as they are, everything written about you, and by you, can be found. Therefore anyone researching you, or your company, is likely to find any information that exists online. Controlling your online reputation can be difficult, and while reputation management can remove any unpleasant results, the best option is always to proactively manage your reputation by being very careful about what you post in the first place.

Even without Jons however, the defendant was found guilty.