DETROIT (AP) – Michigan’s appeals court has granted a new trial to two men in a 2009 killing after finding that jurors used the internet to do research during deliberations.
The Michigan appeals court affirmed a decision by a Wayne County judge, who said “extraneous information” influenced the jury’s decision.
Derrico Searcy was convicted of second-degree murder in J.B. Watson’s fatal shooting. Darrell Ewing was convicted of first-degree murder.
A juror at the 2010 trial said information shared by other jurors about gangs and gang hierarchies persuaded her to convict them.
The appeals court said jurors “are permitted to consider only the evidence that was admitted in open court.”
