In what might be one of the first rulings of its kind, a unanimous Third District Court of Appeal panel ruled that a juror caught writing on his Facebook page during a criminal trial must consent to having those postings turned over to the trial judge for review. The juror had argued that the order violated his Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights, the Stored Communications Act, a federal law that limits government access to online communications, and his state and federal privacy rights
Juror No. 1, who is not named in the litigation, was a juror in an assault case against Demetrius Royster that was tried before Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny.
