Jury deliberations delayed in Stevens trial

Jury deliberations in Sen. Ted Stevens’s (R-Alaska) corruption trial were scrapped Friday because a juror was forced to leave Washington after a death in her family. 

Federal Judge Emmet G. Sullivan excused the jury Friday and said he would speak with the woman Sunday afternoon to see whether she could return from California to continue deliberations early Monday. The judge signaled that he may be willing to delay deliberations until next Wednesday to accommodate the juror. That would be less than one week before Alaska voters decide whether to send the 40-year Senate veteran back for a seventh full term.

{mosads}Sullivan is hesitant to name an alternate juror, saying it would delay deliberations even further. But, as a precautionary measure, he questioned the alternate, a woman who works as an information-technology specialist, to see if she could serve on the jury.

Sullivan is also skeptical of continuing with just 11 jurors because “if something else happens and I lose another juror, then we have some major problems.”

Sullivan has scheduled a Sunday evening hearing, which will be held after he speaks with the woman, to determine how to proceed.

Stevens, 84, has pleaded not guilty to felony charges of making false statements on his Senate financial disclosure forms. The senator, who was indicted in July, pushed for a quick trial in the hopes he would be acquitted before his constituents vote Nov. 4.

Since deliberations started Wednesday, tension has been reported in the jury room, with a note from the foreman signaling discussions have been “stressful” and a second note calling for a juror to be dismissed for being “rude” and making “violent outbursts.”

Stevens's defense lawyers may be encouraged by the feuding in the jury room, and they have objected to naming an alternate juror, who could change the dynamics of the talks. The government, however, says dismissing the juror and naming an alternate is the most appropriate way to respond.

“From the government’s perspective … this is a reasonable assumption that this is a lot to place on this juror,” Nicholas Marsh of the Justice Department said of asking her to return to Washington after a family tragedy.

The death of the woman's father forced her to leave Washington Friday morning to attend memorial services in California. Sullivan said he spoke with the juror twice Thursday evening, and she told him she didn’t know when or whether she should be able to return for deliberations. But the woman, a paralegal, left open the possibility of returning to Washington as early as Monday.

“Having lost my own father a couple years ago, I knew what she was going through,” Sullivan said, before appearing to choke up.