State of Iowa v. Theodore Ray Gathercole II

HECHT, Justice.

Midtrial publicity is not a new phenomenon'. See State v. Walton, 92 Iowa 455, 458-59, 61 N.W. 179, 180 (1894) (concluding when jurors viewed newspaper editorials about a criminal trial during their deliberations, “they meddled and interfered with the order of the. court in a very reprehensible and unseemly manner”). But “in this day and age, our jurors are part of the new electronic world.” State v. Webster, 865 N.W.2d 223, 239 (Iowa 2015). In this case, we apply precedent governing print materials to that electronic world and determine whether a factually inaccurate news…