Jury Experts from Kent State Available to Comment on Dimora Trial as Deliberations Continue

Jury deliberations continue in the Jimmy Dimora federal corruption trial, and we continue to wait for a verdict. What does it mean that the jury hasn’t made a decision yet? What can we infer about what’s going on?

Jury experts from Kent State University are available to media to offer their insights into the jury deliberation and comment, including:

Christopher Banks, Ph.D.
Graduate Coordinator and Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
Kent State University
cbanks6@kent.edu

Banks combines his research and teaching interests by studying the political behavior of the judiciary, constitutional law, the courts, and civil rights and liberties. He has published books and articles relating to judicial policy-making, federalism, the legal and criminal process, American politics, terrorism, Bush v. Gore (2000), the politics of court reform, and the judicial politics of the D.C. Circuit. On campus, Banks teaches graduate courses in American politics and law, justice and society. His undergraduate instruction includes teaching courses on the Supreme Court, constitutional law, civil rights and liberties, the judicial process, and American politics. Before receiving his doctorate, he practiced law in civil and criminal litigation. In addition to practicing law and campaigning for state representative in Connecticut in 1988, he received a gubernatorial appointment to serve as an administrative hearing officer for the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities before earning his doctorate in American government at the University of Virginia.

Paul A. Mastriacovo
Attorney & Counselor at Law
Lecturer and Criminology & Justice Studies Undergraduate Coordinator
Department of Sociology
Kent State University
pmastria@kent.edu 

Mastriacovo is an attorney with more than 30 years of experience. He has worked as a criminal defense lawyer for six years, an assistant prosecuting attorney for 20 years, and a private attorney handling civil litigation cases in state and federal courts. In 2003, Mastriacovo served as the interim Stark County Ohio Prosecuting Attorney. He has been trial counsel for the prosecution or defense in more than 70 homicide cases, including numerous capital murder cases.  He has been appellate counsel in cases before the Ohio and U.S. Supreme Courts. Mastriacovo has taught at Kent State University for 29 years.  The courses he teaches include Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Court Functions, Seminar: Advanced Criminal and Legal Issues, and Seminar: Understanding Criminal Law Through Fiction.

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Media Contact:
Emily Vincent, evincen2@kent.edu, 330-672-8595