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Serial Shooter Trial ~

Archive for the 'Jurors' Tag

Deja vu: Juror caught snoozing again

November 18th, 2008, 3:31 pm by Nick R. Martin

It has been almost a month since a young juror in the front row was caught napping and told to stay awake. He denied he was sleeping, but still promised to load himself up with “a couple Red Bulls” to remain alert during testimony. Well, according to defense attorney Ken Everett, it hasn’t been enough.

This afternoon, while the jury was out of the room on a short break, Everett complained to Judge Roland Steinle that the young man was again seen with his eyes closed and appeared to be snoozing during testimony. Steinle said he would keep an eye on it for the rest of the day. When the man came back into the room after the break, he was carrying a bottle of Mountain Dew.

Photo used under free distribution licensing from Wikimedia Commons.

‘Hard to keep a poker face’ but please try

October 23rd, 2008, 10:41 am by Nick R. Martin

Judge Roland Steinle dealt with more juror trouble this morning when he told juror No. 18 to stop talking to himself during testimony. “It’s distracting to the other jurors and it’s distracting to the lawyers,” Steinle told the middle-aged man in the front row. “It’s pretty hard to keep a poker face all the time,” Steinle said. But he asked the juror to still try.

The juror told Steinle he was having trouble hearing the testimony. “The reason that I make comments to myself all the time is because I can’t hear,” the man said.

Steinle asked him to sit in a seat closer to the witness stand, and said he hoped the little talk resolved the problem. “We’ll monitor the situation,” Steinle said.

Juror: I may look like I’m falling asleep, but…

October 22nd, 2008, 1:04 pm by Nick R. Martin

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.

Two ‘Serial Shooter’ jurors having issues

October 22nd, 2008, 11:46 am by Nick R. Martin

After testimony wrapped for the day yesterday, Judge Roland Steinle said he planned to pull aside two jurors and give them a talkin’ to, one for napping and the other for adding whispered commentary during the trial. Both jurors are men sitting in the front row. The first is in his 20s and was caught sleeping at least twice already. The other is middle-aged and was heard whispering things to other jurors, such as whether or not he believes a witness.

Steinle said this morning he plans to talk to the two jurors at about 1 p.m. when testimony ends for the day. He said in open court, he wants to keep things on the down low with other jurors. “We will have to deal with the gentleman at the end of today’s proceedings, but I want it to be very subtle,” Steinle said.

Photo by pool photographer. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Roland Steinle talks to attorneys during the trial of Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hausner.

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