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May 18, 2005

Juror rebellion brewing in Enron Broadband case

As noted in this previous post, the Enron Broadband trial -- after some early fireworks -- has really turned into a snoozer. And, according to this Chronicle article, the jurors are close to open rebellion:

Initially, lawyers for both sides estimated the trial would take two months to complete. Prosecutors are in their fourth week of presenting their case and told Ú.S. District Court Judge Vanessa Gilmore during a break in the trial Tuesday it would take them at least another seven to 10 days beyond their original estimate to finish.

"The government underestimated the length of the cross-examination," Gilmore told the jury at the end of Tuesday's proceedings.

Jaws of some jurors dropped while others became wide-eyed when she told them the trial would now not likely end until July 8, which is 12 weeks from its April 18 start.

Gilmore then spoke privately outside the courtroom with jurors before returning to address attorneys.

"The jury is going insane back there," Gilmore said, pointing to a door that leads to the jury room. "They're having a fit."

Many of the jurors, she said, will miss out on summer vacations and will not be getting paid at their jobs for up to a month longer than expected.

I'm still not sure that the trial will last as long as Judge Gilmore told the jury yesterday because the defense case in such trials often does not take as long as predicted. However, the prosecution's poor time-planning in putting on its case in chief is another potential blunder in a case that looked like a layup for the prosecution before trial. Although one never knows for sure which side the jurors are blaming for trial delays, my experience is that jurors tend to blame the side that is less entertaining in their questioning of witnesses. And unquestionably, at this stage of the Broadband trial, the prosecution's presentation of its case has clearly been less lively than the defense's cross-examination.

Consequently, stay tuned. If you can stay awake, that is.

Update: The defense counsel in the Broadband case proposed this morning that the defendants would create a fund from which anonymous payments could be made by the District Clerk to jurors. Although parties in long civil trials in Texas state courts will occasionally fund such anonymous payments to jurors to defray a part of the financial hardship of jury service, Judge Gilmore is researching whether such an arrangement is allowed in a federal criminal trial.

Posted by Tom at May 18, 2005 06:43 AM

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