A trial is conducted in a box.
Literally and figuratively.
The literal box is the windowless room in a government building in which the trial is conducted.
The figurative box is drawn by the judge, who admonishes jurors that they are only to consider the evidence admitted inside the courtroom and shall not conduct research or consider information beyond the evidence admitted in the trial.
Yeah, right.
Okay, when these rules were framed, to research a party in the case, a juror would need to travel to a good library, search through index cards, talk to a research librarian and wander the shelves to pull information not received in the trial. read more