Overview
- A juror’s outside internet research prompted Judge Huey P. Cotton to declare a mistrial on June 16 after the juror shared the findings with others, and the original panel was excused.
- The court ordered new jury selection from a standby pool so proceedings could resume quickly and minimize delay to testimony and rulings.
- Chris Brown returned to court on June 18 and began testifying as the first witness after acknowledging partial responsibility while disputing the scope of damages.
- Plaintiffs say the 2020 attack by a Caucasian shepherd called Hades caused emergency surgery, permanent disfigurement, nerve damage and vision loss, and the dog was later found in Humboldt County and euthanized.
- The judge barred jurors from hearing about Brown’s 2009 conviction to reduce prejudice, leaving the trial to focus on assigning fault and quantifying how much Brown and related parties should pay.