STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY v. FINSON

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• noting that because jurors rarely express their biases, trial courts almost always make partiality determinations based on circumstantial evidence
• noting that “[a] district court may rely upon juror assurances of impartiality in deciding whether a defendant has satisfied his burden of proving actual prejudice.”
• explaining that courts do so because “jurors are reluctant to admit actual bias.”
• finding juror bias and reversing conviction where juror clearly stated that she could not be fair and neither counsel nor the trial judge responded
• finding actual bias where juror had close familial ties and friendly relationships with law enforcement officers and said “I don’t think I could be fair”
• declining to distinguish court error in empaneling biased jury, requiring reversal of conviction, from lawyer error in allowing biased jury to be empaneled

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).