Decision to Impanel Foreign Jury In Highly Publicized Criminal Trial Affirmed
In Harris v. Ricci, No. 09-2562, the Third Circuit faced a challenge to the district court's denial of defendant's petition in habeas proceedings arising from a conviction for murder and a sentence of death, challenging the trial court's decision to impanel a foreign jury rather than transfer the case to a different venue in light of the pretrial publicity surrounding the trial.
In affirming the district court's denial of the petition, the court held that the defendant has not shown that the New Jersey Supreme Court's decision upholding the use of foreign jurors to ameliorate the effect of the pretrial publicity was contrary to law clearly established by the Supreme Court of the United States.