State ex rel. Robinson v. Hartenbach

HIGGINS, Judge.

James Robinson and Theodore Aldrich, two of the jurors sequestered for the criminal trial of Walter Harvey, spliced the disconnected wires on a television-radio set in their hotel room and watched or listened to newscasts concerning the trial in violation *569of the court’s order. Although their misconduct was discovered shortly after the trial, the court did not commence prosecution for indirect criminal contempt for more than 2 years. They were then given a hearing after which they were found guilty of criminal contempt, fined $21,807.62 each and sentenced to imprisonment for 60…