This is every lawyer's nightmare in a high profile case.

Scott Peterson's lawyers received a call from an unidentified tipster who reported that s/he had been on a bus trip with a potential juror who had made it past the first few rounds of questioning in the case, and that the juror had bragged about getting on the jury, and said that Scott Peterson was "guilty as hell" and that he would "get what's due him."

During questioning by the Judge today, the juror admitted taking the bus trip but denied making the comments. The Judge ordered the unidentified tipster to come to court on May 10 and testify. We're a little curious as to how the Court can enforce the order if no one knows the name of the tipster. On May 11, the juror will report back to court and learn if she is still on the jury.

Outside court, Geragos praised the tipster and said the alleged stealth juror "wasn't the first and won't be the last." "It's extremely distressing to anyone connected to the criminal justice system to think that anyone would lie their way onto a jury in order to execute someone," Geragos said.

The San Francisco Chronicle has more:

People with ulterior motives are called stealth jurors, and their tactics to get onto panels are becoming more pervasive in high-profile cases, according to legal consultants. "We are seeing it more and more," said Rich Matthews of Decision Analysis, a consulting firm in San Francisco. "People have hidden agendas - some moral, others for financial reasons."

Often jurors are offered book and movie deals while serving on big cases. Others are so consumed with meting out their version of justice that they forget to keep an open mind. He said it was rare for a whistle-blower from outside the jury to come forward as the tipster did in this case. The worst part, according to Matthews, is there are no absolute telltale signs to ferreting out these stealth jurors, just vague clues.