seriously, if you’d be unable to judge impartially simply for having read a news article about the guy, how could you ever be impartial in your judgement when you’ve heard the same story from his team of top-notch defense lawyers?

I think that’s fair though. Media can spin things in ways that negatively influence a case, for example the central park five case.

I had an idea for a rpg once about a near-future society where jury duty lasts like five years. Like they lock you in a bubble village and cut off all your access to the outside world so that when you go to sit on a trial you have absolutely no foreknowledge of what it’s about.