This trial started November 24, 2003 and is ongoing.

April 14, 2004
by guest writer Annie

11:30 We walk into the courtroom. I can't believe how small it is compared to the other one. Only one jury member is there and she is being questioned by the judge. Apparently yesterday one of the jurors said " I would do whatever it takes to get off this fucking jury." (Excuse the language, but this is the exact quote). The lawyers are given the chance to question her.

The next member of the jury is brought in and questioned whether he knows about or has seen another member of the jury writing personal notes in the juror notebook and then ripping the pages out. They are trying to find out if she has been writing these notes during breaks. Asked if he had seen he/she sleeping, he says yes. Veronica questions the juror to see if he knows what happens to the pages after they are ripped out; he says he doesn't watch the juror that closely. Jeff asks him if there is anything that distinguishes sleeping and listening with eyes closed. He says that he thought the juror was sleeping because he/she wasn't taking notes. Some talk about what I would consider to be the juror's personal business. The judge tells the juror to not discuss any of this with the other members of the jury.

11:34 Next juror is brought in. The phrase "I would do anything to get off this fucking jury" is brought up again. The juror says that everyone is frustrated with the case. Judge questions the juror pretty intently to see if he/she was the one who made the comment. Its pretty obvious that this is the person who made the comment. Along with the comment yesterday, a problem seems to be whether parts of the juror notebook were taken out of the courtroom, which is not allowed. Jeff asks questions first, basically asking if the juror wants to stay on the jury. The answer is yes. Veronica questions next about yesterday's statement, the juror says that the trial has been more stressful that anticipated. In order to speed things up, the jury has discussed the possibility of making lunch or breaks shorter but haven't written any notes to the judge.

11:45 Prosecution questions. According to the juror, yesterday he/she said that he/she wanted to go home, not "I would do anything to get off this fucking jury." Then a conflict among the jury about how high the temperature should be in the courtroom is brought up. The juror referred to this as an example of "petty conflicts over what shouldn't be an issue." This juror is being questioned much longer than the previous one. It is pretty obvious that he/she is the one who the other jurors said made yesterday's comment. From what the juror is saying, there are several members of the jury who don't get along with each other at all. The juror says that it is quite possible that personal issues will get in the way of their ability to be fair in deliberations, which is incredibly unfair to everyone involved.

12:00 Judge Mertel now questions her, being very straightforward. I get the feeling that everyone is just trying to get the juror to admit that he/she was the one who made the comment. He is giving the juror every chance to say he/she wants to get off the jury. The juror replies that he/she has taken four notebooks of notes and has basically put a lot of effort into being an attentive juror and taking the trail seriously and doesn't want to walk away at this point.

12:05 Prosecution gets second time to question. Then Jeff asks more questions, then Veronica asks more. The questions are about the notebook issue and whether the juror has been sleeping or not paying attention. From my view, it looks like SB is interested in what the juror is saying but it is hard to tell since I can only see the back of his head, but he is looking in the juror's direction.

12:12 Everyone is done questioning he/she and the judge sends he/she to lunch. He says he thinks that he/she was the juror who made the alleged statement and asks the attorneys to prepare arguments on this issue of "numerous allegations of misconduct." Lunch break.

1:30 Back in court. Marc is talking about a guy who named his dogs ( I think) after pain killers (Vicodin, Percoset) but changed the pronunciations. The defense teams are laughing. Song Richardson is putting on lipgloss and Konat is putting on chap stick, a little surprising to see a guy do in public. Judge Mertel comes back in and addresses the lawyers. SB and AR are brought back in. Judge Mertel says that the closing statements will be shown by television in another room because this courtroom is so small.

1:35 Court is back in session. Judge Mertel asks whether any of the other jurors will be questioned. The attorneys will now argue whether or not the juror should be dismissed. Davidheiser argues that he/she can no longer be fair and impartial. A note from another juror sent to the judge on Feb. 19th is brought up. Apparently one of the jurors heard this juror making a comment about fighting his or her battles in deliberation. AR puts his head in his hands and shakes his head. I'm not completely sure why he did this but I have noticed that he is more expressive than SB. The prosecution argues that the juror should ba taken off the jury.

1:52 Jeff's turn. He says that Judge Mertel clearly gave the juror several opportunities to get off the jury, without admitting misconduct, but the juror didn't take the opportunities. He says that the juror has paid attention to the trial, clearly takes notes because of the four filled notebooks. Basically he questions everything the other jurors said. He is pretty convincing. He brings up the fact that the f-word is commonly used in the trial, the prosecution even makes jokes about it. He argues that in its context, whether the juror said "I want to go home" or I would do anything to get off this fucking jury," one of the other jurors said the comment was meaningless. Jeff says that if the judge decides to dismiss the juror, he would like to question more jury members.

2:18 Veronica's turn. She agrees with Jeff that the juror should not be dismissed. She says that if the juror in question is dismissed, several other jurors should be dismissed for misconduct such as sleeping and reading other juror's notes. She argues that the jury process has been invaded because now the court knows who gets along with who, who dislikes who, etc. in the jury.

2:30 Davidheiser is back up. He's mumbling and I can't hear part of what he says, but he says that issues like misconduct is the reason that the court has alternate jurors. Judge Mertel decides to dismiss the juror, not for misconduct. I'm not giving details to respect his/her privacy as Judge Mertel requested.

2:48 The jury is brought in briefly and dismissed except for the juror in question. He dismisses him/her and is really nice about it, thanking the juror for the time that was put into the case. Song and Jeff are really pissed.

2:55 Veronica moves for a mistrial on the basis of the juror's dismissal. She reads a list of other jurors that she wants dismissed on the basis of misconduct. Jeff also moves for a mistrial. Judge Mertel denies their request for a mistrial and the motion to dismiss other jurors from the trial. Judge Mertel says that if the jury is having trouble staying awake, maybe the lawyers should try to make it more interesting. That's pretty funny.

3:04 Court dismissed.