Why Courts Use Anonymous Juries, Like In The Freddie Gray Case

The jurors who will be chosen to hear the first case against a police officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore will be anonymous, at least for now.

A judge has ruled that their identities can be shielded from the public. That practice is controversial, but not unheard of in high-profile cases.

Experts trace the first completely anonymous jury — secret not just to the media, but also to the defendant — to 1977. That's when a judge worried about possible jury tampering by a drug kingpin named Leroy "Nicky" Barnes, a man also known as Mr. Untouchable.

"They tend to be only used in very, very high-profile trials or trials in which there is a serious threat to either the safety of the jurors or the integrity of the jury process," said Paula Hannaford-Agor, who studies jury issues at the National Center for State Courts.

Hannaford-Agor said there are plenty of examples in recent years of a more limited approach: keeping juror names from the public and the press during the trial but releasing the information later. She said courts recognize a legitimate need to protect the jury.

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