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Billy Corben Will Have to Explain His Jury Duty Tweets in Court

In these modern, scary times, it's nice to know that the Miami-Dade court system is focusing on what's important: Billy Corben's social media practices.A Miami-Dade judge has ordered the filmmaker to appear in court May 25 to explain his reasons for sending Twitter and Facebook messages while he was serving...
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In these modern, scary times, it's nice to know that the Miami-Dade court system is focusing on what's important: Billy Corben's social media practices.

A Miami-Dade judge has ordered the filmmaker to appear in court May 25 to explain his reasons for sending Twitter and Facebook messages while he was serving jury duty during a trial in February, the Miami Herald reports.


Corben's tweets weren't exactly what you'd call provocative. He mostly did what everyone does on Twitter and Facebook: whine sarcastically about the mundane details of his life at the moment.

They didn't seem to make any waves at all until the defendant in the case, who was convicted of armed robbery by the jury on which Corben served as foreman, appealed the ruling, claiming that the tweets are grounds for throwing out the conviction.

Now, everyone seems to have an opinion. The claim sounded like a reach to us at the time; Herald columnist Fabiola Santiago had, well, a different reaction.

But if there's one thing we should all agree on, it's this: Holding an official judicial hearing over a couple Facebook messages about some low-quality bistec is a waste of everyone's time and taxpayer money. Unless he tweets from the stand, in which case, we're all winners.


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