Tainted Jury? Malheur Protest Trial
by Shari Dovale
The trial of the Malheur 7 in Portland is into the third day of jury deliberations. This afternoon brought questions from the jury.
It seems that the jury is having some trouble agreeing on all the charges. They may have come to a consensus on a few, however.
There were three questions that were as follows:
- If we are able to agree on a verdict for 3 of the defendants; but are at a stand off for the others, does our decision for the three stand? Or does this become a mistrial for all the defendants?
- Conversely if we are able to agree on a decision for 10 out of the 13 charges does that decision stand or does it become a mistrial? As an example … If we find a defendant guilty of count one, but can’t agree on count two what happens?
- The 3rd question came from a single juror instead of the entire jury: Can a juror, a former employee of the Bureau of Land Management, who opens their remarks in deliberations by stating ‘I am very biased …’ be considered an impartial judge in this case?
The juror that submitted the question is #4, while the juror that is said to be biased is #11.
Per Olson, attorney for David Fry began by asking for juror #11 to be dismissed, but Judge Anna Brown refused to do that.
Brown, as well as attorneys for the defense and prosecution, met with this juror and Brown asked him if he could remain impartial. He stated that he could, and that seems to be where Judge Brown wants to leave it.
She has given the defense until 9am tomorrow morning to cite case law before she will decide on whether to investigate the allegations further.