Juror identities in high-profile cases are sometimes kept private out of concerns for death threats and other forms of intimidation or privacy violations. After waiting about 90 days for things to cool down, Judge Belvin Perry unsealed the names of the Casey Anthony jury yesterday. As the Tampa-area media reported, "The public outrage over the not guilty verdict sent some into a panic, many became prisoners in their own homes."
Since at least theoretically the judicial system should be about protecting people, why not keep the juror names under wraps permanently? And what business is it of the media (particularly the St. Petersburg Times newspaper which petitioned to have the names released) to force the jurors into the public domain? Judge Perry himself earlier stated that Florida's public record laws might be too broad in this regard.
In related news, another Florida judge will be deciding by the end of the month if Anthony's October 8 deposition in the pending civil defamation case can be released to the public in either transcript and/or video form. Anthony apparently wore some sort of disguise during the proceedings.
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