Jurors have deliberated on the David Westerfield case for seven days, and still no verdict. Posted on 08/18/2002 12:43:52 PM PDT by FresnoDA
By Kristen Green
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 18, 2002
Jurors have deliberated on the David Westerfield case for seven days, and still no verdict.
Commentators speculate about the reasons on every radio and television station. But only 12 people know what's going on inside the jury room, out of sight of the attorneys, the judge and the media.
Jury consultants say the panel is probably quite organized and that deliberations are taking "a little long" because it's a complicated case. The experts say the jurors probably have been methodically sifting through evidence.
But that scenario makes former jury foreman George L. McAlister laugh.
"It's not that way," said McAlister, who served as foreman in 1991 for the second trial of Elisabeth "Betty" Broderick, who killed her former husband, prominent lawyer Dan Broderick, and his bride.
McAlister's experience tells him something different is happening.
He said the jury's conversations more likely are being steered by emotions and that the panel is trying to address issues raised by one or more jurors so they can move on to "the real issues."
McAlister said his jury's deliberations soon became disorganized, despite his attempts to impose logic. First, each member gave his or her often-emotional outlook on the case. Then they took a straw poll on whether to convict the La Jolla socialite of murder or manslaughter and found themselves polarized.
"It happened pretty quickly," McAlister said.
But every foreman has a different story to tell. Paula Hannaford-Agor, a senior researcher for the Center for Jury Studies in Williamsburg, Va., said the ways jurors approach deliberations are "idiosyncratic to each jury."
She said jurors often begin by reviewing jury instructions to chart a course. Then they determine which testimony is relevant to the charges.
"They've got a lot of evidence to sort through," Hannaford-Agor said.
The jury heard eight weeks of testimony in the case against Westerfield, a design engineer accused of kidnapping and killing his 7-year-old neighbor Danielle van Dam.
How the jurors conduct deliberations also depends on the foreman's approach to problem solving.
Gene Wagner, who served as foreman on the 1999 Brandon Wilson trial in Vista Superior Court, said he put the jury instructions on the blackboard and members reviewed them section by section. Then he opened a round-table discussion.
The panel deliberated about 51/2 hours before convicting Wilson of slashing 9-year-old Matthew Cecchi's throat in an Oceanside restroom.
But in that case, "we didn't have mountains of evidence," Wagner said. The Westerfield case, he said, is more difficult because there's more circumstantial evidence and more scientific data.
"I can certainly put myself in their shoes," he said.
Wagner suspects the Westerfield jury is dealing with one or more members who disagree with the majority on the defendant's guilt or innocence.
"I would think if they didn't decide within the first two days, someone's holding out," he said. "Their perception is their reality. People in the minority tend to entrench themselves further and dig their heels in."
But since jurors haven't sent a note to the judge expressing frustration with the deliberations, they're still talking, Wagner said.
"They're not at a brick wall right now," he said.
The jury has been behind closed doors "a little long," said San Diego jury consultant Toni Blake, "but it's not extraordinarily long."
She said it's too early to assume the panel is deadlocked.
The jury has sent seven notes to the judge asking to review evidence. On Friday, the foreman sent a note asking for a read-back of testimony from Dr. Brian Blackbourne, the county medical examiner and a prosecution witness, and defense witness David Faulkner, the first insect expert to take the stand.
"If they're still asking for evidence, they're still deliberating," Blake said.
It's likely that the jury has taken several votes and is working to answer the questions of jurors in the minority, she said. If the jury were deadlocked, it would have notified the judge.
A study by the National Center for State Courts found that 6.2 percent of the cases it analyzed between 1996 and 1998 ended in deadlocked juries. And San Diego has seen a number of prominent cases end in mistrials the first time they were tried, including Broderick's.
Juries also deadlocked during the first trial of former Mayor Roger Hedgecock on charges of concealing campaign contributions and the murder trial of California Highway Patrol Officer Craig Peyer. The second juries to hear the cases returned convictions.
Hannaford-Agor, who is finishing a study of deadlocked cases for the Center for Jury Studies, said she found deliberation time has little to do with whether a jury deadlocks.
However, she found juries that vote very quickly are more likely to hang. In those cases, the judge and attorneys involved were notified early on of the impasse.
Jurors in the Westerfield case have spent more than 27 hours deliberating. She said that means they're taking their job seriously. Jury deliberations tend to take longer in more complicated cases, Blake said, particularly in capital cases.
Jurors are instructed not to consider the penalty at this point of the case, but doing so is human nature, she said.
Wagner, whose jury recommended the death penalty for Wilson, said jurors know if they convict Westerfield they'll be asked to decide whether he should be executed.
"It's hard to put someone to death," Wagner said. "It's so contrary to the way we lead our lives."
Yet even when the discussion isn't about life and death, murder-case deliberations are highly emotional.
In the second Broderick trial, the jurors split 10-2, with the majority favoring convicting her of murder, McAllister said. One of the two holdouts couldn't explain her stance, and the other folded her arms and stopped participating.
Before they compromised on two second-degree murder convictions, jurors screamed at each other, and a few cried.
"Everybody was really upset," McAlister said. "It's a very difficult, emotional situation."
McAlister says it's a job he hopes he is never called to do again and feels sorry for the Westerfield jury foreman.
"It's a nightmare to be in that situation, to have to address all those emotional issues," he said. "It's a tremendous responsibility. It's a tremendous burden."
(Posted with permission of Registered...FDA)
Beth and Jerry can bite me.
sw
There is no "prize," but the winner(s) get to be called "winners" and have the right to say "I told you so;" we're still negotiating about "neener neener neeners."
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MONDAY AUGUST 12TH Small-l-libertarian Countess - By 4 pm FresnoDA - Afternoon TUESDAY AUGUST 13TH It's Me Pyx - Mid-afternoon WEDNESDAY AUGUST 14TH Mommya - 2 hours after jurors come in Mr.Stiv - Before lunch break MizSterious Greg Weston Dave in Upland - Between noon & break Spectre - 2 pm Basscleff - Afternoon I.Ben Hurt - Afternoon THURSDAY AUGUST 15TH Shezza - Before lunch Mrs. Liberty - Noonish Domestice - Afternoon JRabbit - Afternoon Henrietta - Afternoon is_is - Afternoon Lauratealeaf - 2 pm Rheo - 3 pm ThreeYearLurker - 3 pm Crystalk - 3:33 pm VRWC_minion FRIDAY AUGUST 16TH Pinz-N-Needlez - Morning, first thing The Other Harry - 10 a.m. Krodg - Morning Calawah - Before noon Brneyedgirl - Before noon Demsux - Noonish Cappsmadness - Post noon Juzcuz - 2 pm RnMomof7 - 2 pm deadlocked 1st time Nycgal - 3 pm MagnoliaMS - 4 pm Jaded - Afternoon |
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theirjustdue - 11 am dread78645 - Midmorning ItsOurTimeNow - 3 pm |
TUESDAY AUGUST 20TH
Lucky - 11 am Gigi - Morning RnMomof7 - 2:30 pm deadlocked 2nd time A Garrett WEDNESDAY AUGUST 21ST Kerensky - 2 pm John Jamieson Ucansee2 THURSDAY AUGUST 22ND Space Wrangler Fnord Droid - 2:22 pm Alexandria - Afternoon FRIDAY AUGUST 23RD Moody - 11 am bvw - Afternoon Irgbar-man - 4:45 pm MONDAY AUGUST 26TH Hoosiermama - Before noon TUESDAY AUGUST 27TH (None) WEDNESDAY AUGUST 28TH L,Towm |
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