Mistrial…

…in Tyco trial.

A source, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said that Juror No. 4 - a woman who had nearly brought the case to a mistrial last week - had received a threatening or coercive letter within the past 24 hours.

Comments

[Steve in CO]

This is going to be good... 🙂

[Warren]

What happened last week that "nearly brought the case to a mistrial"?

[Ryan Jensen]

I think she gave the "OK" hand signal to the defendant as she entered the courtroom.

[mark]

The OK sign is in dispute. The NY Post and WSJ described it as such -- using that as justification for revealing the name of the juror, a 79-year-old society matron widely described by people who know her as a pain in the ass. (The Post has dubbed her "the Batty Blueblood.")

Other reporters in the courtroom disputed that she flashed any sign. Here's how the AP -- whose reporter was there -- is describing it today:

The Post and Journal broke with normal journalistic conventions in naming the juror while the trial was under way. Col Allan, the editor of the New York Post, said the newspaper did so because of a gesture in the courtroom interpreted by some to be an OK sign to defendants, which he said ?created public interest in her identity.? The Journal gave a similar reason for its decision. Other journalists, including an AP reporter, who were in the courtroom did not interpret the gesture as any kind of signal.

[John Hensley]

What kind of court is this that doesn't have reserve jurors?

[astroturf]

John Hensley-

Would you prefer a court in which a recalcitrant juror can be replaced with a more pliant one on said juror's receipt of a threat? If the DA redirects the letter through enough proxies, maybe he won't get caught...

[dj of raleigh]

I can hear Trump calling someone Juror #4 already.
This list has at least ONE juror #4 in all matters.
I can see the old lady on talk shows already.

[Jury Nullification]

Ah... more taxpayer dollars down the drain to prosecute people for crimes that most people are not even certain *are* crimes.

[asian tg]

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