Juror who denied cafeteria talk fined 10 times that of chatty cohorts

Prosecutors said they overheard three jurors discussing a sex assault case outside the courtroom, which led to it being declared a mistrial.

NEWARK -- A juror who denied discussing the details of a sexual assault trial with other jurors outside the courtroom has been ordered to pay a fine ten times the amount of summonses paid by his chatty cohorts, who admitted to talking about the case while the three were having lunch together.

Superior Court Judge Michael Ravin has ordered Richard Beam to pay $1,000 after finding that he compromised the trial by discussing it in the courthouse cafeteria, a spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office confirmed Wednesday. The two jurors he was talking to, John Lipari and Eddie White, were fined just $100 each after pleading guilty on June 22 to contempt charges related to discussing the case.

The three were jurors in the 2015 trial of Donovan Cunningham, who was charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl. After 12 days of testimony, the case was declared a mistrial after Essex County assistant prosecutors said they overheard the three jurors discussing the case in the cafeteria at the Essex County Courthouse.

2 of 3 chatty jurors plead guilty

The jurors had been told specifically not to talk about the case during breaks, prosecutors said.

Ravin heard testimony about the contempt charge against Beam in four hearings this year, and considered written submissions from the prosecutor's office and Beam's attorney, the spokeswoman said.

Beam's attorney, Dennis Durkin, had argued that Beam could not be found in contempt of court because there was no proof that he intended to violate a court order. He also asserted that "the mere fact of speaking cannot itself be a violation," citing Beam's First Amendment rights.

Durkin could not immediately be reached for comment on the judge's decision Wednesday.

Cunningham was later tried and acquitted of the charges, the spokeswoman said.