The Napping Juror in the front row tells Judge Roland Steinle that he, in fact, is not napping when he closes his eyes. He says it’s a technique that he uses all the time at work while on conference calls. He drops his eyes, but still listens to what’s happening. “My body may look like I’m falling asleep, but I’m retaining all the information,” the unnamed juror told Judge Roland Steinle.
Still, the judge asked the young man to keep his eyes open during the trial and told him to sit where Steinle can see him.
“I’ll add a couple Red Bulls to my system now,” the juror said.
Steinle again denied the defense team’s request to kick the juror off the trial, but he said after the man left the room that the juror was now “in the hot seat.”
As for the Loose-Lipped Juror, he apparently took off before the judge could call him back into the room. Steinle’s assistant said she asked him to stick around, but he slipped out of the courthouse before he was called back in. Attorneys and other jurors have complained that the man is making offhanded comments during testimony. At best, it’s distracting. At worst, it is possibly skewing the opinions of other jurors.
At this point, the middle-aged man seems like the more-likely candidate to get canned as the trial goes on. “I’ll deal with him tomorrow morning,” Steinle said.
Programming note: Wednesday was a short day. The trial is on break until Thursday morning. Join us here again at that time for more live updates.
I had Judge Steinle for my divorce trial three years ago and HE fell asleep during the testimony of a court appointed psychiatrist. My attorney and about 6 people sitting in the courtroom observed his head bobbing for about 15 minutes after lunch.
He found in favor for my ex, but his bad decision was later overturned by the State Appeals Court.
Practice what you preach Steinle…….
Look at his Judiciary Rating sometime-it is one of the worst in the entire County for his temperament and conduct.