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I am just aghast that this could happen! Is there no penalty for just skipping town during jury deliberations? I think this is insane, or perhaps the juror is!
Absent Stevens juror admits father didn't die
By ERIKA BOLSTAD
Anchorage Daily News
(11/03/08 08:44:09)
WASHINGTON -- Juror No. 4 in Sen. Ted Stevens' federal corruption trial, otherwise known as Marian Hinnant, did not leave to attend her father's funeral in California, as she told the judge.
Instead, Hinnant had a plane ticket to see the Breeder's Cup at the Santa Anita race track and didn't want to miss it, she told the judge this morning, in what sounded like completely irrational and perhaps even delusional remarks.
"I just wanted to go to the Breeder's Cup," she told reporters after a hearing the judge held to find out why she left town and lost contact with him, forcing him to replace her as a juror just hours before the jury found Stevens guilty.
Hinnant also told reporters that she would have found the Alaska senator guilty had she remained on the jury.
"He was guilty, but these other guys are just as guilty," she said, referring to other members of Congress.
Her lawyer, federal public defender A.J. Kramer, tried to keep her from saying much in court, telling the judge only that "her state of mind was such that she had to go to California."
"She apologizes to the court. In fact, her father did not die," Kramer said. "The story about her father was just one that popped into her head."
But Hinnant cut in, and in a thick Kentucky drawl, gave a rambling, incoherent and baffling monologue about her former employers in the horseracing industry in Kentucky. She mentioned drugs, wiretaps and horseracing, but made little sense.
"I'm not the one who was selling the drugs, I'm not the one who was doing the drugs," she said.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan let her go, saying that he was going to "accept Mr. Kramer's representation that you were not able to (deliberate) and for reasons that were serious to you."
He added: "I'm convinced you were not able to deliberate."
Sullivan told her that she did not have to speak to the media, but she said she was willing to talk, and she did. Outside of the courthouse, a pack of about 10 reporters followed her to the nearby Metro stop, as did several of Stevens' attorneys. Kramer escorted her to the station and encouraged her not to say much, but Hinnant appeared not to be able to restrain herself.
Hinnant, 52, told reporters that she works at Avis car rental in Union Station in Washington D.C. She worked in horseracing for many years and simply wanted to see the race, since she already had a plane ticket to California.
Absent Stevens juror admits father didn't die
By ERIKA BOLSTAD
Anchorage Daily News
(11/03/08 08:44:09)
WASHINGTON -- Juror No. 4 in Sen. Ted Stevens' federal corruption trial, otherwise known as Marian Hinnant, did not leave to attend her father's funeral in California, as she told the judge.
Instead, Hinnant had a plane ticket to see the Breeder's Cup at the Santa Anita race track and didn't want to miss it, she told the judge this morning, in what sounded like completely irrational and perhaps even delusional remarks.
"I just wanted to go to the Breeder's Cup," she told reporters after a hearing the judge held to find out why she left town and lost contact with him, forcing him to replace her as a juror just hours before the jury found Stevens guilty.
Hinnant also told reporters that she would have found the Alaska senator guilty had she remained on the jury.
"He was guilty, but these other guys are just as guilty," she said, referring to other members of Congress.
Her lawyer, federal public defender A.J. Kramer, tried to keep her from saying much in court, telling the judge only that "her state of mind was such that she had to go to California."
"She apologizes to the court. In fact, her father did not die," Kramer said. "The story about her father was just one that popped into her head."
But Hinnant cut in, and in a thick Kentucky drawl, gave a rambling, incoherent and baffling monologue about her former employers in the horseracing industry in Kentucky. She mentioned drugs, wiretaps and horseracing, but made little sense.
"I'm not the one who was selling the drugs, I'm not the one who was doing the drugs," she said.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan let her go, saying that he was going to "accept Mr. Kramer's representation that you were not able to (deliberate) and for reasons that were serious to you."
He added: "I'm convinced you were not able to deliberate."
Sullivan told her that she did not have to speak to the media, but she said she was willing to talk, and she did. Outside of the courthouse, a pack of about 10 reporters followed her to the nearby Metro stop, as did several of Stevens' attorneys. Kramer escorted her to the station and encouraged her not to say much, but Hinnant appeared not to be able to restrain herself.
Hinnant, 52, told reporters that she works at Avis car rental in Union Station in Washington D.C. She worked in horseracing for many years and simply wanted to see the race, since she already had a plane ticket to California.
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