The Morning Wrap

The Recession's Impact: Anecdotal evidence suggests that more people are getting out of jury duty by citing economic hardship, The New York Times reports. "No, sir, not in this economy," one potential juror, who owns a small business, told a judge in Florida. When the judge pressed the man about whether any of his employees could fill in, the man replied, “I fired everybody.”

'Trial by Fire': A story in The New Yorker about a Texas man executed in 2004 is beginning to get lots of attention because some think there's strong evidence that the man, Cameron Todd Willingham, was innocent. Note the 2006 quote from Justice Antonin Scalia on whether any innocent inmates had been executed in the modern judicial system. Click here for prior coverage.

Don't Mess With Ben: U.S. marshals have arrested a woman accused in a major theft ring that ensnared the wife of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, The Miami Herald reports. Shonya Michelle Young had several wigs in her possession, authorities said. Anna Bernanke reported that her purse was stolen in August 2008 at a D.C. Starbucks.

In-House Fight: A lawsuit brought by former in-house lawyer Dimitrious Biller accuses Toyota Motor Sales' current and past general counsel of willfully ignoring him when he told them that the company was concealing and destroying evidence it was required to turn over to plaintiffs in lawsuits, Corporate Counsel reports via Law.com. Biller wants damages.

State Ambitions: And some people thought AG always stood for 'aspiring governor.' Martha Coakley, the attorney general of Massachusetts, is running for the U.S. Senate, taking out papers Tuesday for the special election to succeed the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), The Boston Globe reports.

Comments

[JFD8]

The jurors are hung up by fears
That duty puts them in arrears;
Financial dependence
Means that the defendants
At last will be judged by their peers.

News Short n' Sweet by JFD8
http://twitter.com/JFD8

[JT]

People have been trying to get out of jury duty even in good economies.