A Judge Confronts Jury Tampering
After a civil trial ends, a Superior Court judge takes the unusual step of swearing in the jury to testify about being approached by a litigant.
The story, cleaned up
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The case of J. E. Plouf v. T. H. Dempsey ended disastrously for the plaintiff yesterday. After a few witnesses testified in defense of Plouf’s character, the jury retired, but had only been in their room a few minutes when they were called in by the judge, who wished to correct an instruction. They finally returned with a verdict for the defendant and were about to retire when Judge Osborn stopped them. His honor said that he intended to say something to the men who sat before him which he did not desire to be construed as a reflection on anyone, but information had come to him which made him feel that, as a public officer, he must question the jury. He then caused them to be sworn and asked them if any member of the jury had been approached by any person or persons connected with the case directly or indirectly. There was a dead silence for a moment, when William Phillips, the foreman, said that some man whom he did not know had on Tuesday asked him how the case was going, and he had replied that he had nothing to do with it. The court then said that as long as he had the honor of sitting on the bench in King County, it was his aim that justice should be done in an honest and efficient manner. Judge Osborn did not say so, but the cause of his so closely questioning the jury was information given him by Bailiff George H. Smith, who claimed Plouf had asked him, 'Who will be the jury?' and stated he wanted to 'fix two or three of these fellows.' Dr. Plouf emphatically denied these allegations.
“The courts should be held sacred, for in them were determined the questions affecting the highest liberties of the people, their rights of person and rights of property.”
Jury tampering remains a foundational anxiety in the American legal system. Judge Osborn's dramatic, open-court interrogation of the jurors highlights the 19th-century reliance on bailiffs and personal integrity to protect the sanctity of the courtroom.
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