Oakhill trial judge says a long case could cause jurors to ‘lose interest’

December 11, 2015 at 5:24p.m.

CLEVELAND

The judge overseeing the Oakhill Renaissance Place criminal-corruption trial wants attorneys on both sides to “streamline the case” so it move at a steady pace and doesn’t bore jurors.

“I’m always concerned jurors will lose interest or we’ll torture them” with a lengthy case, said Judge Janet R. Burnside of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.

There are thousands of pages of evidence – as well as about 700 to 800 hours of secretly-recorded tapes – that could be introduced in the case set to start March 1. Of that evidence, about 99 percent isn’t in dispute, So, a computer system that shows the documents on a large screen — allowing everyone to see it and speeding up the trial — is one way to make the case move at a good pace, Judge Burnside said.

It’s faster than the traditional way of introducing evidence in which it’s given to the attorneys on the other side, the witness, and sometimes the judge and jury, she said.

“These are important documents,” she said. “This will save a ton of time and [help with] the attention span of jurors.”