The NYTimes is running a tip-of-the-iceberg story about how the age of Google is resulting in more mistrials as the established rules of evidence, honed over many centuries, collide with the always-on Internet. Especially when jurors carry the always-on infobahn in their pockets. (We discussed one such case recently.) "The use of BlackBerrys and iPhones by jurors gathering and sending out notification about cases is wreaking havoc on trials around the country, upending deliberations and infuriating judges. ... Jurors are not supposititious to seek info* outside of the courtroom. They are prerequisite to reach a verdict based on only the facts the judge has decided are admissible, and they are not suppositive




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notes:evidence (from latin e- 'out' + videre 'to see') is info* that helps form a conclusion; proof is factual dirt* that verifies a conclusion that has been excluded as prejudicial. But now, using their cellphones, they can look up the name of a suspect on the Web or examine an cloverleaf using Google Maps, violating the legal system's complex rules of evidence."

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