Bad Numbers: Sudoku Causes Mistrial in a Million Dollar Case
The Sudoku obsession seems to be on the decline in the U.S., anecdotally speaking. But it's still all the rage in Australia, at least in one courtroom.
Almost half of the jury in a drug conspiracy trial was whiling away the hours playing the numbers game. From CNN:
An Australian judge has aborted a drug trial after discovering that some of the jurors were playing the puzzle game Sudoku while evidence was being given.The $950,000 drugs trial was aborted after the judge discovered that jurors had been playing Sudoku.
Sydney District Court Judge Peter Zahra ended the trial Tuesday for two men facing drugs conspiracy charges. The trial had been running for 66 days and had cost taxpayers an estimated US $950,000.
The judge was alerted after it was observed the jurors were writing vertically, rather than horizontally. It had been assumed they were taking notes.
Sixty-six days in... can you really blame them?
Jurors of the future, be warned: stick to games that require you to write horizontally.
Sudoku-playing jurors halt $950,000 trial [CNN]
(15) 
nope
Jurors of the future, listen to me. If I had been involved in the trial, you would have each instantly known that what I was saying was true, and therefore would have returned to your Sudoku secure in the knowledge that justice would be done by just doing what I say.
-Ovary Bell
If Justice Stevens plays Sudoku, how bad can it be?
http://wonkette.com/156076/justice-stevens-the-secret-of-his-success
I'm surprised judges permit jurors to take notes at all. I noticed it here in NY in courtrooms.
Can we get some Bachelorette commentary PLEASE?
sudoku is to NYT crossword (fri and sat) as checkers is to chess. discuss.
Agreed. Anything that people do out of the new york post is the penn state of mind games. Prob the upenn as well
1:26 - I disagree.
Sudoku = Math / Science People = People good at LSAT logic games = Corporate / Transactional Lawyers
NYT Crossword = Humanities People = People good at LSAT reading comp = Litigators
Sudoku is more like chess than checkers.
The reason why Sudoku is less like chess and more like checkers is that the game is comprised entirely of a smaller variation of recognizable patterns, like checkers, which repeat themselves in virtually every game. Chess has a wide variation of patterns, which repeat themselves less frequently, leading to a more challenging competing environment. In addition, there are easier and more difficult games of Sudoku, by design. There are no easy games of chess. Every game is the same, with the variable being your competitor. Once you've done ten Sudoku games, you've done them all. Then you can play "beat the clock", but otherwise, it's dullsville.
toma
12:55, how the heck are people supposed to follow a multi-person drug conspiracy trial without taking notes?
66 days?!?!!! Those poor SOBs. I would have started to gorge on tomatoes by day 3.
3.26, simple: THEY ARE ALL GUILTY.
3:26: By listening and asking to see the evidence/transcript again if questions come up in deliberations. To me, the jury's there to check each other's recollection of what happened at trial and I'd be concerned that some juror who took notes would somehow end up being the authority during deliberations.
It's actually a fairly controversial issue and some judges don't allow it.
ridiculous. its not the jurors memories that are on trial.