(4 of 4)
The deliberations continued to be difficult and, in many ways, dysfunctional. Yet by Thursday afternoon, we had reached a strong consensus for guilty verdicts on the final two counts, conspiracy and securities fraud. Now we had to start again from the top to finalize our verdicts or decide to leave some counts hung, and we raced to finish that afternoon. Jordan wavered again and again before acceding to any guilty verdicts, though there was a consensus just as strong in the opposite direction on more than half of the charges. Still, it seemed we might complete the task. Before we left for the day, Juror No. 5 reasonably suggested that we ask the court for an extra half-hour to finally put this all to rest. Jordan, in particular, objected. She needed an extra night to think it over. Uh-oh.
And that was basically that. On Friday, as we started to deliberate, we were abruptly stopped by court officers. We couldn't get the extra hour or so it would probably have taken to reach a verdict on most of the charges. No doubt we would have been hung on some of them. Jordan, who had unconscionably been outed by name by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, had received a threatening letter. The judge declared a mistrial. It was particularly frustrating that the mistrial was caused, in the end, by events outside the courtroom. Lord knows we had enough problems inside the jury room. We had come together, however uneasily, only to have the marathon canceled just as we were staggering the final yards. I can't say for certain that we would have reached a verdict. It was forever a moving target, like Charlie Brown lining up a placekick with Lucy as his holder. But I am incensed that we didn't get the chance to try.
I certainly hope there will be a retrial. I believe that the defendants committed crimes and that the law demands that they be held accountable. If it's all the same with the state, though, I'm going to sit the next one out. I've served my time.