Legal Definitions - laboring a jury

Laboring a jury refers to the illegal act of attempting to influence a jury or individual jurors through improper, corrupt, or unauthorized means, outside of the evidence and arguments presented in open court. This action is a specific form of the broader offense known as embracery. It involves making an effort to sway a jury's decision by appealing to their personal biases, offering inducements, or using any method other than the legitimate presentation of facts and law during a trial.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Example 1: During a high-profile criminal trial, a close friend of the defendant approaches one of the jurors in a coffee shop during a lunch break. The friend subtly tries to convince the juror that the defendant is a good person and couldn't possibly have committed the crime, even offering to buy the juror's lunch and suggesting they "do the right thing."

  Explanation: This illustrates "laboring a jury" because a third party (the friend) is making an unauthorized and improper attempt to influence a juror's decision outside of the courtroom proceedings, appealing to personal sympathy rather than evidence presented in court.

• Example 2: In a civil dispute over a property line, one of the plaintiffs discovers the home address of a juror. The plaintiff then sends an anonymous letter to the juror's home, detailing additional "facts" about the case that were not presented in court and urging the juror to consider these points when deliberating.

  Explanation: This is an act of "laboring a jury" because a party to the case is directly attempting to sway a juror by introducing extra-judicial information and arguments, thereby corrupting the impartial deliberation process that should only rely on admissible evidence.

• Example 3: A defense attorney, frustrated with the progress of a trial, subtly arranges for a local newspaper to publish a highly biased article about the case, containing misleading information favorable to their client, just before jury deliberations are set to begin. The attorney hopes the jurors will read the article and be influenced by it, even though the information was not admitted as evidence.

  Explanation: This demonstrates "laboring a jury" because the attorney is using an indirect but deliberate and improper method (manipulating media coverage) to influence the jury's perception and decision-making process, bypassing the legitimate channels of evidence and argument in court.