Jurors Question Impartiality Of Fellow Jury Member - #BundyTeaParty

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http://www.opb.org/images/upload/c_limit,h_1000,q_90,w_640/20161025_Jury_Note_Two_AT_IMG_0197_zpdobe.jpg
http://www.opb.org/images/upload/c_limit,g_south,h_1000,q_90,w_640/20161025_Bundy_Jury_Note_AT_IMG_0198_1_j5pnwu.jpg

by Conrad Wilson and Amelia Templeton
Oct. 25, 2016 1:20 p.m. | Updated: Oct. 25, 2016 4:02 p.m. | Portland

... Jurors submitted two questions to U.S. District Court Judge Anna Brown. In a hand-written note, the jurors indicated they may not be able to agree on charges for all seven of the defendants ...

Brown has sent a note back to the jury asking them for clarification.

“Jurors, before I can respond to your question about the instructions,” she said, “I need to address the other question sent to me.”

Brown asked the jurors to identity the potentially impartial juror by number ...

http://www.opb.org/news/series/burns-oregon-standoff-bundy-militia-news-updates/oregon-standoff-trial-juror-impartiality/

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Not good.

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2. Jurors Indicate Possible Dissension

By Colin Miner (Patch Staff) - October 25, 2016 6:26 pm ET

The jury .. sent two notes to the judge Tuesday ...

"Can a juror, a former employee of the Bureau of Land Management, who opens their remarks in deliberations by stating 'I am very biased …' be considered an impartial judge in this case?" the second note from the jury read.

The judge asked the jurors for clarification. Defense lawyers have asked for the juror to be dismissed while prosecutors have said the jury should keep deliberating ...

http://patch.com/oregon/portland/oregon-standoff-trial-jurors-indicate-possible-dissension

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4. Malheur jurors indicate difficulty reaching consensus

The Associated Press
Published: October 25, 2016, 3:21 pm
Updated: October 25, 2016, 3:38 pm

... Judge Anna J. Brown said she has a hunch that the questions about a juror’s impartiality goes to why the jury hasn’t reached a unanimous decision.

Judge Brown said she will address these issues and asked both the prosecutors and defense attorneys to come up with specific questions for Jurors 4 and 11, if the decision is reached to question these jurors.

During voir dire, Juror 11 was asked if his connection with the Bureau of Land Management would affect his ability to be impartial. Not really, he replied, “that was more than 20 years ago” ...

http://koin.com/2016/10/25/malheur-jurors-indicate-difficulty-reaching-consensus/

[Shrike47]

6. Oh goody, an issue for appeal. Sigh.

[Coyotl]

7. K & R = who's not biased? Won't matter.

Unless we have a Bundyite on the jury trying to derail a conviction.

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8. Juror Questioned Over Bias Will Likely Continue In Malheur Case

By EDITOR • 2 HOURS AGO
Originally published on October 25, 2016 7:19 pm

U.S. District Court Judge Anna Brown said, for now, she won't dismiss a juror in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation trial, after that person was accused by another juror of being biased.

A juror in the trial of Ammon Bundy and six others sent a note to the judge Tuesday, accusing another juror of being biased because he used to work for the Bureau of Land Management.

Brown met with the juror and attorneys in the case to discuss the issue. The accused juror, No. 11, said his former employment would not influence his decisions. He made similar statements during jury selection.

The judge said if defense attorneys wanted to further question the man's role in the trial, they need to submit legal arguments by Wednesday morning ...

http://ijpr.org/post/juror-questioned-over-bias-will-likely-continue-malheur-case#stream/0

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9. Partial Verdict Reached in Takeover of Oregon Wildlife Refuge, Notes Indicate

By KIRK JOHNSON
OCT. 25, 2016

PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal jury indicated on Tuesday that it had reached a partial verdict in the trial of Ammon and Ryan Bundy and five of their followers, who face felony charges stemming from the armed takeover of a federal wildlife sanctuary in Oregon in January.

But two separate notes, sent to the judge from the jury room in Federal District Court here, also suggested that the panel was having trouble reaching consensus on all of the defendants — apparently agreeing on three of the seven — and that one juror, a former government employee, may have expressed bias to at least one other juror.

Judge Anna J. Brown questioned Juror 11, who had worked for two federal agencies as a firefighter about 20 years ago, and who had told the court that fact during jury selection and was seated anyway. Judge Brown said she was satisfied with his answers and demeanor and sent him back to the jury to resume deliberations Wednesday morning. She said she was also sending a note to the panel, telling them that the charges and defendants were all to be considered separately, so a finding on three defendants would not affect their verdicts or deliberations on the rest.

But the new complications, which came on the third day of deliberations, added another layer of uncertainty to a case that gripped the nation earlier this year with its public debate about government powers, public lands and constitutional rights. Ammon Bundy’s lawyer, Marcus R. Mumford, told the court he believed more inquiry was needed into whether the jury was affected by potential bias. Judge Brown said that she was satisfied for the moment, but that she would allow further argument on Wednesday morning, out of the jury’s presence ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/26/us/partial-verdict-reached-in-bundy-trial.html?_r=0

[Orrex]

10. Um, wait a sec...

Brown asked the jurors to identity the potentially impartial juror by number ...

Wouldn't you want an impartial juror?

[malaise]

11. K & R

Lock them up!

[randome]

12. How would the juror's previous employment never come up during jury selection?

If both Prosecution and Defense were aware of this, I don't see the problem.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

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15. It did come up then. But during deliberations, another juror has accused this one of bias

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13. Ammon Bundy: Dismiss juror or mistrial

KOIN 6 News Staff
Published: October 26, 2016, 8:57 am
Updated: October 26, 2016, 9:16 am

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Ammon Bundy on Wednesday morning asked Judge Anna Brown to dismiss a juror or declare a mistrial in the Malheur Wildlife Refuge standoff case ...

Juror 11 reportedly worked as a Bureau of Land Management ranch technician and firefighter decades ago ...

Judge Brown met with the juror Tuesday afternoon and said she found no basis that he was untruthful.

She then closed the inquiry of bias for the day. Attorneys will have the chance to bring up the issue again Wednesday morning if they can find specific case laws that justify reopening the inquiry.

http://koin.com/2016/10/26/ammon-bundy-dismiss-juror-or-mistrial/

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14. Legal experts give their analysis of jury questions from Oregon standoff trial

By Maxine Bernstein | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on October 26, 2016 at 5:00 AM, updated October 26, 2016 at 8:45 AM

... Andrew Chongseh Kim, a Concordia University law professor, said keeping the jury as is in the Bundy trial deliberations could provide grounds for an appeal if there are convictions.

"The easiest way to avoid an appeal by the defense would be to replace Juror 11 with an alternate juror,'' Kim said. "The prosecution, however, would likely object that this would be interfering with the jury in the middle of deliberations.''

Yet Yin said the judge's query of Juror 11 and finding that he can be fair and impartial is a finding that would be "very difficult to challenge successfully on appeal.''

Other legal observers said the jury questions indicate there's some dissension or discord among the jurors, which is not welcome news for prosecutors ...

http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2016/10/legal_experts_give_their_analy.html