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During a trial, if a juror complains to a judge that another juror has been sexually harassing her/him either inside or outside of the courtroom, can the judge hold this accused juror in contempt of court?

I have been searching on the Internet for an incident such as this one but have not found one yet. I would like to know whether the judge had held him/her in contempt of court, or if the judge had simply replaced him/her with an alternate juror, or if the judge had to declare a mistrial so a new jury would be selected to hear the case.

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Of course the judge can hold the person in contempt if it is done in court. A judge can hold anyone in contempt who does not act accordingly in his/her court.

When it is done outside of court it would have to be relating to the proceedings in some way.

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  • The jury room is not "in the face of the court" but still relates to discharging the juror's duty: I would think it depends on the jurisdiction. – Tim Lymington Jun 5 at 22:15
  • It may be different in the UK, but in the US jury deliberations would be a court function even if it's not directly in the same room during business hours in all cases etc. – Putvi Jun 5 at 22:17
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    Harrassing another juror could also affect the outcome of a trial - for example if the harrassed juror wants to get out of the situation as fast as possible instead of carefully examining the case (which would be understandable). If that happens, then it is beyond just contempt of court. – gnasher729 Jun 6 at 19:21
  • @gnasher729, I hadn't thought of that, but yes, someone who really wants to get released from jury duty could choose to purposely sexually harass someone, yet he/she risks getting sued by the person they harass. – user22280 Jun 7 at 17:05

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