Rule 42-8. Communications between Parties and Jurors

(a) No party, and no attorney, employee, representative or agent of any party or attorney, shall contact, communicate with or interview any juror or alternate juror, or any relative, friend or associate of any juror or alternate juror concerning the deliberations or verdict of the jury or of any individual juror or alternate juror in any action:

(1) during trial until the jury has returned a verdict and/or the jury has been dismissed by the judicial authority, except upon leave of the judicial authority, which shall be granted only upon a showing of good cause; or

(2) in any manner after trial which subjects the juror to harassment, misrepresentation, duress or coercion.

(b) After trial, jurors have no obligation to speak to any person about any case and may refuse all interviews or requests to discuss the case, except as ordered by the court. However, jurors shall report to the court any extraneous prejudicial information improperly brought to the jury's attention, any outside influence improperly brought to bear upon any juror, or whether the verdict reported was the result of a clerical mistake.

(c) A violation of subsection (a) may, where appropriate, be treated as a contempt of court, and may be punished accordingly. The judicial authority shall have continuing supervision over communications with jurors, even after a trial has been completed.

Committee Notes

(P.B. 1978-1997, Sec. 845A.) (Amended June 15, 2012,