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There are quite a few players in the Casey Anthony saga in need of image rehab.

And you can add the jury system to that list.

Yesterday it came out that a PR firm was openly selling the story of one of the jurors.

“Our client — a married, college-educated, 33-year-old white male with two young children — is willing to consider granting one or more media interviews so long as the opportunities are paid, which I know is always a sticky subject and believe me, I understand the delicacy of this type of negotiation. He will not entertain any offers that don’t include compensation for a myriad of reasons,” the letter said.

How outrageous is that?  Not even any attempt to be descrete.  Just boom.  The PR person suggesting pay up or don’t bother to make contact.  And this PR firm is representing a juror who was paid by the state of Florida to sit on a jury.  And now he is trying to capitalize on that.

There is nothing illegal about it, apparently.  But there should be so that the system doesn’t look bad.  I believe when you have jurors shopping a story it makes the system look tainted.  It raises questions about what they were doing behind closed doors and why they would serve on the jury.

It is jury duty.  Not opportunity.

And validating this point is the fact that every juror declined to talk with reporters immediately after Tuesday’s verdict.  They said it was because they were sick about the verdict.  But then, within hours, came the peddling of their stories for money.  So was that really the reason?  Or did they know there was money to be made and they were unwilling to speak for free.

Let’s please not forget that all this is happening because a 2-year-old child died.

I know I am not the only one bothered by the fact that some jurors are trying to capitalize on their situations.  I think doing so makes the system look bad and if the judicial system wants to repair its image that sort of behavior ought to be illegal.

Clearly not all the jurors are trying to cash in.  But those who reflect poorly on the system and their fellow jurors.  They’re making everyone look bad.

As a crisis management PR person who wants to see the jury system restore its tarnished image, I’m calling on Florida lawmakers to introduce a bill making it illegal for members of a jury to cash in on their service.  Convicted criminals cannot make money off their crimes and jurors should not be able to make money off jury duty.  They are paid for their work.  And jurors should not be able to profit from that service because it taints the system.

When the stakes are this high, and five, six and even seven figure book and movie deals being talked about it’s only human to be tempted to sway or change an opinion with the hopes of cashing in.  So it needs to be stop.

I am not suggesting that happened in this case.  But it raises possibilities.  Let’s be proactive.  And stop it before it happens because it is only a matter of time.

Shouldn’t there be rules like this to make sure that can never happen?

Let’s face it the game has changed.  And when our system was put together, no one anticipated that so much money might be involved with any and all of the players in a big case.  But now that we do know, the system needs to be adjusted and laws need to catch up with the times to keep the system, and the people involved, honest.

So, people out there on the Internet, lawyers and lawmakers in Florida, who’s gonna join me?  Sound off and let me know what you think!

The lawmaker or lawmakers who jump on this will get a ton of attention–and the type of attention he or she wants.  This is a wonderful populist position to take.

So let’s begin to restore the image of the jury system by making it illegal to profit from jury duty.

The time to move on this is now.  This story will remain a headline for only so long.

Glenn Selig is founder of The Publicity Agency, a top crisis management PR firm.   He has represented entertainers, professionals and businesses.   He   currently reps Rod Blagojevich, the former governor of Illinois,  his wife Patti, among others.  Glenn is also regularly interviewed by news media  outlets to  offer a PR perspective on big news events.  For more  information, please  visit www.thepublicityagency.com.

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