Why was a Greene County trial delayed?

They ran out of potential jurors. Social media posts, jury duty no-shows lead to mistrial

Story by Laura Lane, The Herald-Times

Published by HT on September 7, 2021

Reprinted with permission

COVID-19, people not showing up and scathing social media posts attacking the defendant caused a mistrial in a Greene County case before it got started last week.

They ran out of potential jurors who could fairly weigh the evidence.

Eleven people had been selected by noon on Aug. 30 to serve on the jury in the case of State of Indiana v. Nathanael Sexton. The 34-year-old Bloomington man is charged with strangulation and confinement, both felonies, and with misdemeanor battery.

To conduct the trial, there had to be 12 jurors and an alternate. Of the 75 potential jurors summoned, some were disqualified ahead of time for various reasons, including health issues and having a felony conviction.

That reduced the pool by about 30 people. Still, 45 or so were expected to show up for what's called "voir dire," the jury selection process.

But when court convened that Monday morning, just 36 potential jurors had arrived at the Greene County 4-H Fairgrounds community building in Switz City. The one-day trial had been relocated from the courthouse in Bloomfield so that participants could be socially distanced to follow COVID-19 precautions.

"We only had a few witnesses, so we were going to try and get the trial done in one day," Greene County Deputy Prosecutor Keven McIntosh said. "We had 11 seated by 11:30, but then we ran out."

This was the first time that's happened in his career. He recalled a case from years ago where he and defense lawyer Ron Chapman got down to one final prospect for the last seat, "and we both agreed we would keep that juror," McIntosh said.

During jury selection, lawyers are allowed to excuse a certain number of potential jurors, people they don't thinks would be good for their side, without having to give a reason.

Facebook post complicates jury selection

Bloomington defense attorney Joe Lozano said he and McIntosh were confident they could get a jury panel selected, even from just 36 people.

Complicating the matter was a social media campaign initiated by the victim in a previous case against Sexton.

In Facebook posts, she describes criminal charges against him from the past and the outcomes of the cases. She gives details about alleged assaults against women. She posted the jail mugshot taken when Sexton was arrested on the most recent charges in 2018.

Both McIntosh and Lozano acknowledged how information like that, widely spread on social media, can influence people against someone charged with a crime.

Jurors aren't allowed to know about a defendant's past convictions, a provision of the law that protects the accused from being judged on past bad acts instead of current allegations.

Neither would say much about it, given that a new trial has been set for Oct. 19. McIntosh said more than the standard 75 jurors will be summoned, in case the same issues arise.

Charges date back to 2010

Past charges against Sexton might well taint a jury's impression of him. They date back to July 2010, court records show, when he was charged with strangulation, intimidation, domestic battery and invasion of privacy. Those charges were dismissed in March 2011.

In May 2012, when he was 25, Sexton was charged with strangulation, intimidation and battery. He pleaded guilty to intimidation and battery, and the other charges were dismissed.

Court records indicate he got a three-year jail sentence. Two years were suspended and he was put on house arrest for a year, but later sent to jail for 78 days when he violated the agreement.

In September 2014, police charged Sexton with attempted kidnapping when he reportedly tried to pick up an ex-girlfriend's child from daycare without her permission. He was jailed on a $50,000 bond and spent six months in jail awaiting disposition of the case.

The felony charge was amended to criminal trespass, a misdemeanor. Sexton pleaded guilty and paid $168 in court costs.

In June 2018, a woman called 911 and told the dispatcher that Sexton, her ex-boyfriend, had choked her and shoved her head into the dashboard of his truck. She said he threatened to kill her and her parents, but she had gotten away and was hiding in some bushes near the chapel on Greene County Line Road.

Police arrested Sexton on charges of strangulation, criminal confinement and battery in that case, and McIntosh added a habitual offender charge, which was dismissed in January 2020.

A long road to trial

The case continued through Greene Superior Court, with at least 16 continuances granted for the defense. A guilty plea hearing was scheduled for April 1, 2021, but it fell through when Sexton rejected the terms of a negotiated agreement.

So the prosecutor dismissed and refiled the charges, upping the criminal confinement allegation to a higher level felony. The trial was set for Aug. 30.

"The social media presence, COVID, and the number of people that didn't show up, plus all of those struck for cause, these things are not in our control," Lozano said.

Indiana law allows a judge to send a bailiff or sheriff's deputy out to recruit jurors off the street if they need more, but it's not something that's likely to happen during a pandemic.

"You could go out and get people, but in the day and age of COVID, you have to be concerned," Lozano said.

He said he didn't read the social media posts that vilified his client, but was told of the content and responded to a message criticizing the judge and lawyers over the mistrial.

"People are allowed to express their views," he said. "But they shouldn't post things that are factually wrong and go against the integrity of the court."

Click link to read Laura’s original story on the HT website: https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/local/2021/09/07/social-media-posts-among-reasons-trial-delay-greene-county/5722356001