What the Judge Ate for Breakfast

A cool part about covering a trial via Twitter is seeing reaction from those following the coverage. That’s the “social” part of the Internet social networking experience. But there’s been an interesting twist in the coverage of the federal racketeering trial of six accused Crips gang members.

Not only is it a first here in federal court, it’s the first trial I’ve had “retweets.” Retweet is Twitter-speak for someone repeating one of the short, 140-character posts to their followers — passing it along to a broader audience.

A few of the posts people have “retweeted” (RT) during the past week of testimony — from Barnegat, N.J. to Seattle:

• Alex73013: @rsylvester “Smith initially said he didn’t know anything about the robbery, but he eventually admitted to robbing the store to police.” …

(Police said one of the defendants changed his story during an interview)

• LindsayGriffith: Oops! RT @rsylvester: Court just learned that one of the jurors realized she’s a cousin to the fingerprint examiner who testified earlier.

(U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten questioned the juror and later determined she didn’t know the witness well enough to affect her ability to be impartial).

• DBallardReisch: @rsylvester Not really clear how anyone remembers what happened in 1995!

(Prosecutors are chronicling 16 years of crimes they say show an organized criminal enterprise by the defendants and witnesses are having to testify years after the incidents)

• EmilyMedvec: RT @RSylvester “There was a man in the bathroom, who she said she didn’t know.”

(from testimony about a home invasion)

• VBalasubramani: “To get OG status,’you’ve got to put in work.’ That includes riding in retaliation of the enemies.” (@rsylvester – from trial)

(OG stands for “original gangster)

Continue following the trial this week at the box on the left or on my Twitter feed.