Mounting problems for Espada jury threaten to overtake trial
Last Updated:
11:55 AM, May 7, 2012
Posted:
11:51 AM, May 7, 2012
Riyad Hasan
Pedro Espada
The mounting problems inside the jury room at former New York
state Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada's corruption trial are
overshadowing the start of the panel's second week behind closed doors
and could result in a deadlock, if jurors are unable to reach an
unanimous verdict, experts say.Last week, notes sent out by the 12-member jury panel cataloged bitter accusations and counter-accusations that include charges that a lone juror has "refused to be open to deliberations" and another claim that no one has ever refused to deliberate on the embezzlement case leveled against the Bronx Democrat.
Heated emotions inside jury rooms have plenty of precedent, legal experts say, but the problems have reached a stage where Judge Frederic Block may be faced with two difficult choices if the panel cannot come to an agreement on the evidence.
"The judge is going to be walking a tightrope," said Ephraim Savitt, a former federal prosecutor who is now a prominent defense attorney.
Either the judge will decide that the jurors cannot reach a unanimous verdict and declare a mistrial, or he might find that a juror has refused to deliberate, remove the uncooperative panelist, and proceed with an 11-person panel, experts said.
But throwing a juror off a panel is problematic under federal law.
"It's not so easy to knock off a juror. A judge can get in trouble if he moves too quickly," said another defense lawyer who asked to remain anonymous.
Gregory Mize, a retired judge who teaches a course entitled "Jury Trials in America" at both the Georgetown and University of Virginia law schools, said that while jurists need to give a panel sufficient time to iron out their differences, charges of failing to abide by the rules requires action.
"When there's misconduct alleged, you have to do something about it," Mize told The Post.
Judges need to investigate allegations from jurors, while carefully avoiding questioning about the breakdown of the panel's votes.
"A court has to be very careful not to inquire about what is going on in the jury room. There's a sanctity about deliberations," Mize said.
Judges need to investigate claims "that a juror has refused to deliberate" in order to confirm that a panelist is indeed "someone who is not going to live up to their oath to deliberate cooperatively with other jurors," he said.
"I think any decision has to be founded on evidence," Mize said.
To do that, a judge must interview jurors and weigh observations about the particular panelists "statements and demeanor" to determine if there has been a tacit refusal to discuss the case, or conclude that the person has simply reached a different conclusion than the majority.
"It's a difficult call," Mize said.
On Friday, the judge interviewed a single juror in private and then gave the entire panel yet another pep talk, once again sending them back to resume their deliberations - as the closed-door drama played out for the entirety of last week.
The trial has focused on charges that Espada misused his chain of charity health care centers in The Bronx, which are largely subsidized by taxpayer money, to bill hundreds of thousands of dollars for lavish family vacations, home improvements, and high-end personal meals and pass them off as legitimate business expenses.
Today the discord may force the judge's hand.
If it doesn't appear that the jury is making progress towards a unified verdict, the judge may have to boot a juror off for refusing to deliberate, or possibly keep the panel together - with the likely result being a hung jury and a mistrial.
At this point, several knowledgeable observers believe it's unlikely - but not completely impossible - that the jurors will be able to resolve their differences themselves and reach an unanimous verdict.
If the jury deadlocks, then that means the Brooklyn US Attorney's Office would need to decide whether they want to try the case again at some point in the future before a different jury.
That would mean a complete redux - yet another two-month trial, replete with 77 witnesses and hundreds of evidence exhibits.
Savitt, the former Brooklyn federal prosecutor, says he has no doubt that the office would present the case again.
"Absolutely - without question. It's a high profile political corruption case. The US Attorney's Office always prioritizes cases of this sort," Savitt said.
Susan Necheles, Espada's defense attorney, declined to comment.
Whatever the outcome, Espada will still face a separate tax fraud case in Manhattan federal court at some point in the future.
Mize, the retired judge, said intractable problems with juries are rare but far from unprecedented.
"This is the overhead we pay for the priceless democratic administration of justice," Mize said.
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We’d retry Pedro: feds
Last Updated:
4:13 AM, May 8, 2012
Posted:
1:10 AM, May 8, 2012
He won’t be smiling for long.
Former state Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada was beaming outside court yesterday as contentious jury deliberations in his Brooklyn federal corruption trial plodded along.
The disgraced pol took a leisurely stroll with his entourage and was able to enjoy a long lunch.
But his newly buoyed spirits will likely be short lived.
Prosecutors have vowed that if there is a mistrial, they’d retry Espada on charges that he used his Bronx health-care nonprofit as a personal piggy bank, sources said.
For the last two months, Brooklyn jurors have heard that Espada allegedly misspent hundreds of thousands of dollars from the nonprofit on lavish family vacations, home improvements and high-end personal meals.
Former state Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada was beaming outside court yesterday as contentious jury deliberations in his Brooklyn federal corruption trial plodded along.
The disgraced pol took a leisurely stroll with his entourage and was able to enjoy a long lunch.
But his newly buoyed spirits will likely be short lived.
Prosecutors have vowed that if there is a mistrial, they’d retry Espada on charges that he used his Bronx health-care nonprofit as a personal piggy bank, sources said.
For the last two months, Brooklyn jurors have heard that Espada allegedly misspent hundreds of thousands of dollars from the nonprofit on lavish family vacations, home improvements and high-end personal meals.
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