Investigation of Tainted Juries

On June 16, 2016, in Commonwealth v. Moore, the SJC unanimously affirmed the decision of the trial court that Attorney Wood should be permitted to contact jurors in a widely publicized murder case to investigate the possibility that their verdict was affected by extraneous influences. Attorney Wood had been the first attorney in Massachusetts to take advantage of a change in the rules of professional conduct permitting attorneys to contact jurors in an effort to uncover injustice. This decision is expected to have a wide impact on post-conviction investigation of criminal cases.