Jurors Displaying Unique Behavior as Day 9 of Deliberations in the John Edwards Trial Approaches
With no indication of a verdict on the horizon, jurors in the John Edwards trial are set to begin a ninth day of deliberations.
Yesterday, Judge Catherine Eagles and lawyers on both sides held a series of private meetings that were apparently prompted by a note the judge received from a juror in the case.
Eagles has not publicly disclosed the juror's inquiry. However, Kieran Shanahan, a former federal prosecutor watching the trial, said requests from individual jurors are unusual, and could signal dissent.
"What you ordinarily get in a case is that a jury, working together, has a collective question," Shanahan said. "That question gets resolved and often you get a verdict shortly after that. In this case, we've had repeated notes from jurors which lead, inevitably, to the press and public being excluded from the process, the lawyers meeting with the judge, and the deliberations continuing, but with no apparent action being taken."
During the first eight days of deliberations, Eagles had required the trial's four alternate jurors to remain in the courthouse, even though they were not part of the jury room discussions. Yesterday, the judge told the alternates they were free to leave the courthouse. But she warned them not to discuss, or look at media reports about, the trial in the unlikely event she needed to call any of them back to serve as replacements on the jury.
During recent days, the alternate jurors had started drawing attention by wearing shirts of similar colors: yellow last Thursday, red on Friday, somewhat mismatched shades of black and gray on Tuesday and purple on Wednesday.
"Everyone in the courtroom will miss your cheerful faces," Eagles said while dismissing the alternate jurors. "We will regret not knowing the color for tomorrow."
Stay tuned to Fox News Channel for updates on the case.
