11-19-2021, 09:39 AM
Witness/Jury intimidation is a crime. It can also be charged as obstruction. Sometimes, it is very blatant, like the MSNBC producer following the jury bus in an attempt to get pictures of the jury. Of course, he said he was ordered by his boss to follow the bus but was not going to photograph them. Then why run red lights following them? He should be criminally charged. Where it gets tricky is protestors on the courthouse steps, chanting the usual "No Justice, No Peace" and other tag lines in their pursuit of whatever verdict they happen to be chanting for that day. They have the First Amendment Right to do that, however when it is in earshot of the jury, it is also a form of intimidation by basically saying rule the way we want or we're going to burn your neighborhood down. Yet it's hard to charge people for this. I do, however, think they should be kept away from courthouses while trials are going on and juries are in deliberation
