From the outset, the trial seemed a little chaotic. Now that chaos has spilled over into jury deliberations. Will Stevens benefit from it all?
- Sen. Ted Stevens/ official photo
By Del Quentin Wilber
Washington Post Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — The foreman of the jury in Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens’ corruption trial asked today that a juror be removed following “violent outbursts” with other jurors and her refusal to “follow the rules and laws” during deliberations.
In a note to the judge, the foreman said he represented the views of 10 other jurors in requesting that the juror, identified only as No. 9, be removed from the panel. He also described her as “rude, disrespectful and unreasonable.”
But U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan declined. He read the note in court and summoned the panel into the courtroom for what he called “a pep talk.” He told the jurors to act with civility and sent them back to deliberate in the first trial of a sitting U.S. senator in more than two decades.
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UPDATE 6:20 p.m. – Jurors go home Thursday without reaching verdict.
UPDATE 10:40 A.M. Friday-Oct. 24- The Associated Press reports that the judge in the Sen. Stevens public corruption trial has halted jury deliberations for a day or two to accommodate a juror whose father died. Read More
