Juror Facebook posts could impact $2 million jury verdict

Published December 12, 2016

A juror's Facebook posts during a federal civil rights trial could jeopardize a $2 million verdict awarded to a man who claimed he was illegally strip-searched by a Milwaukee police officer.

Jurors last month found that former officer Michael Vagnini had violated Willie Newman's civil rights during a 2010 arrest.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports (http://bit.ly/2hEtfpw ) the city's lawyers have asked the judge to question jurors under oath after the city says it found one juror had posted about the trial on Facebook, and also had shared a post by an anti-police activist.

If the judge determines that outside information entered the deliberations, he could throw out the verdict.

Vagnini was one of four officers convicted of crimes in illegal strip and cavity searches from 2008 to 2012.

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Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com

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