Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Mark Jensen Murder Trial: Day 30, Deliberations Continue

Day 30 - 2/19/08

Update 2!
Has anyone out there ever seen a jury go this many hours in a single day? Not a single one of the T&T trial watchers here, can remember ever seeing anything like this happen before. So now, we have formed a phone tree to wake each other up around the clock.

It's almost crazy isn't it? It's like they don't want to stop. Many of our dear friends are starting to worry that there is a holdout on the jury. Could we have another Spector type situation on our hands? We are on pins and needles as to what this jury is going to do. Will they come to a verdict tonight? Will Schroeder experience again, a lost juror situation? Will donchais wake up tomorrow? Stay tuned!

Update: 9:11 pm.
The jury is going to go home, and wants to get a fresh start tomorrow. Jambois and Albee agree to send the jury home. Albee requests that the alternates be kept separate from the actual jurors. Schroeder decides to put the alternates outside the jury box.

Now, the judge has just pulled both attorneys to the bench. The situation about what to do with the alternates is still not resolved. The audio has been cut. We have no idea which way the court is leaning on the alternates.

The side bar is about several jurors have to travel a long distance, the court was going to put them up over night. They are ensuring that the hotels that the jurors are offered is not the same as the one's the counsel are in. The judge is concerned about the safety of the jurors driving home tonight.

Albee is concerned about supervision of the jurors, and that they might be staying where media is also staying. Judge Schroeder believes the jurors will respect their instructions.

Update: 9:22 pm
Jenson has a smirk on his face watching the jury be seated. Jury is instructed that they can not discuss the case other than when all twelve are in the jury room. Jury can vote on their arrival time tomorrow. The jurors are being offered hotels if they want them rather than driving home. 9 am? 9:30 am? It will be 9:30 am. Any questions anybody? Enjoy your evening. Schroeder tells the attorneys that they have to be there.

What does this mean? Do we have another Juror #10? Let's pray we get a verdict tomorrow.


CNN.Crime

Today's TMJ4

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Okay folks, this is what I know about trials in WI, etc. I was on a jury in this exact same court house in the beginning of January. Matter of fact, the case I was on started at the same exact time as the Mark Jensen trial. I was really hoping to get on the Jensen trial, but I did not. I saw the Jensen jurors though, and I can tell you that they seemed to be very intellegent, and very determened people!
Here in WI this is NOT unheard of for the jury to go as long as they have gone the first night. The trial I was on was two weeks long. We deliberated until about 9 pm the first night. We probably would have went longer, but one juror was 70 years old, and she just couldn't keep going any longer.
Anyhow, they jurors get to make the calls. The attorney's and the judges sit back and let them go as long as they wish. I don't know about anyone else, but I was VERY offended by Albee's comment last evening. He said something to the judge about sending the jury a note telling them they "can" go home for the evening if they wish. Albee said they may not "know" they can go home. I can't remember exactly how he said that part, but it seemed, at least to me, as though he was implying that they jurors weren't smart enough to know they didn't have to stay. Like 'They aren't as educated as me, so I am SURE they don't know this', kind of attitude! Give me a break!!! And his whining, too.
The attorney's have to be in, or very near, the court room the whole time, because they need to allow, or disagree with, requests for evidance made by the jury. THAT I understand. And they should be, that is there job. But what I don't understand is WHY Mark Jensen has to be in the court room the whole time! The county jail is right next door to the court house. He could be back in the court room within 5 minutes, when a verdict is reached. He is having way too good of a time sitting there.
Oh, and for what my thoughts are worth, I do believe the jury will come back with a verdict today, too. My "guess" is they will find him guilty.

Dyan's Angel

One more thing, I sure hope they have NOT continued to feed the jurors the food that I was fed when we were deliberating! They were "so proud" that they had hired this "chef" at the prison, and that he was going to make the food for us. We ordered pizza the first night. It was frozen pizza that had toppings thrown on top of it. Like the veggie pizza we ordered was a cheese pizza with frozen broccolli and such on top.It was cooked, of course,but was cold! Not only is it not something you would expect a "chef" to do, but it was AWFUL! It quite litterally tasted like an old cardboard pizza box! Wanna bet that their "chef" is a prisoner, "in training"?
Great job by the way, staying up and covering things last night. I can't beleive I made it thru until 11 pm (WI time zone) when they called it a night too. Glad they won't be starting back in until 9:30 today - gives me a chance to run to the grocery store.

Sprocket said...

Thank you for your valuable insight as to how things usually go in this county's courthouse and for sticking with us up until the very end.

This is so different than what I'm used to here in Cali. I don't think we've ever seen a high profile jury deliberate so long in a single day.

Anonymous said...

Craig Albee is hoping for a mistrial.
It took me only 5 minutes to find Mark Jensen guilty. Obviously, some of the jurors are slow. What don't they understand about Mark Jensen's refusal to take his sick wife to the hospital despite the pleas from her doctor and from their own son? Nothing can be more clear than that.

Anonymous said...

Apparently every one of these jurors has had depression and/or suicide in their lives. Either themselves, or someone close to them. So I am guessing this may be some of the problems, for some of the jurors. And there was SO many pieces of evidance entered in for this case. So the jurors that believe him guilty have a lot to go thru to show their fellow jurors that he is quilty beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Yes, in WI our jurors can deliberate as long as they would like to each day. And the judge, especially in this case, is very willing to allow them to do that. The longer they stay the sooner they will reach a verdict. This judge is very afraid he will loose a juror along the way; creating a mistrial if they can't use an alternate. He wants this done and over with sooner rather than later, so this doesn't happen.
And I have no doubt in the world that Craig Albee is hoping for a mistrial. He is planning his appeal as well, I am sure. I do NOT feel the jury was being pressured to stay late, or reach a verdict as Craig Albee seems to think. We Wisconsinites are true "work-a-holic's"! When I was on a jury a few weeks back, we wanted to get this done and over with. It was FINALLY in our hands, and we wanted to get things done ASAP, so we could get our lives back! I am reasonable sure that this jury feels the same way.
Here's hoping we don't have another long night tonight; but it sure wouldn't surprise me any!

Ms.KaylisGrammy said...

Thanks for the heads up on how the jury is deliberating Dyan's Angel. It is nice to see a jury so dedicated to get the job done!

Arkansas juries don't seem to work as hard as the juries in WI do. At least in none of the cases I have followed.

I am sorry you had such rotten food. I think the members of a jury should have good food, because they need the energy to reach a verdict. Hopefully, they have changed "chefs" since your trial Dyan's Angel! LOL

I hope we get a verdict today (Wednesday). And I hope it is the "right" one!

katfish said...

I heard this morning on TruTV that there is an engineer on the jury. Memories of Spector trial come rushing back! However; this jury seems to be deliberating in earnest based on the amount of evidence they have requested. In my mind that's a good thing.
Dyan's Angel- Thanks so much for sharing your personal experience with the WI court system. A WI attorney on trutv said this am that he had a trial where the verdict came back at 2:30am. I thought we work hard in here in IL, but you people put us to shame. I've never heard of deliberations going so long but if the jurisdiction can afford to keep the court open, it makes sense to me, they let them work as long as they want.