For several weeks during trial, juror Karen Krell apparently tried to add Brendan Cawley, a surviving firefighter and witness for the prosecution, as a Facebook friend. Cawley chose to ignore her requests claiming he did not recognize her, as per his testimony in Bronx Supreme Court. The day after the guilty verdict was delivered against building manager, Cesar Rios, Krell again attempted to contact Cawley, this time with the identification that she was a juror on the case. Cawley accepted the request, briefly discussed the case and, a week later, reported the incident to the District Attorney’s office. It’s difficult to believe that any juror would even think of such an action, which is unfortunately being exploited by counsel for the defense who are attempting to get the verdict overturned.
Tags: Facebook, friend request, juror, witness
Michael M. Wechsler is an experienced IP attorney, Internet entrepreneur, noted speaker and quoted author. He founded Apple online community EastNet in 1992 (featured by David Pogue in Macworld Magazine) and later founding TheLaw.com. For several years he served as legal counsel to iVillage, was as an e-discovery legal consultant for Kroll Ontrack, was recently SVP of Business Strategy at Zedge, and is currently at the helm of The Law Network.
