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Googling Trial Judges OK'd, Says Appeals Court

by Warren Riddle on March 23, 2010 at 09:25 AM


Thumb-happy jurors have repeatedly jeopardized court cases with tweets, status updates, and Internet searches. But, at least one of those courtroom tech taboos has actually been approved as an appropriate measure for the judge who presides over legal proceedings.

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin recently drew the ire of defense attorneys when he consulted Google during a trial. The New York case focused on Anthony Bari, a convicted bank robber facing charges of parole violation. Bari allegedly robbed a bank after his release, and surveillance footage of the purported crime captured a perpetrator wearing a yellow rain hat. Investigators later found a similar hat located in the garage of Bari's landlord, so, in order to determine the availability and diversity of such hats, Chin performed a Google search and discovered that there are "lots of different yellow rain hats."

Even though the Google discovery helped Bari's case, Chin eventually ruled that he had indeed violated his parole, and Bari's attorneys appealed the ruling. According to Reuters, the defense believed that Chin violated a rule that "bars a presiding judge from testifying as a witness." A federal appeals court ruled for Chin, though, with its official decision stating that judicial Google searches may become more prevalent because "a judge need only take a few moments to confirm his intuition by conducting a basic Internet search."

That certainly sounds reasonable, but shouldn't a new bailiff possibly be positioned right behind the judge from now on just to, you know, make sure it's actually Google they're consulting? [From: Reuters]

Tags: court, google, InternetSearch, judge, law, search, top

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