« Ind. Decisions - Court of Appeals issues 4 today (and 15 NFP) | Main | Ind. Courts - "House overwhelmingly passes measure to elect jurists in St. Joe County." »
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Courts - Texas judge declares mistrial after counting 13 people on jury
From the Houson Chronicle today, a story by Brian Rogers that begins:
The Harris County jury returned a guilty verdict after deliberating 45 minutes in a murder case, but the judge realized he had a real problem. Sitting in the jury box were 13 citizens.Instead of sentencing Charles Mapps to prison in the shooting death of his girlfriend, state District Judge Mark Kent Ellis on Tuesday declared a mistrial. An extra juror was allowed to deliberate.
Ellis said a criminal jury must have 12 people on it and can’t have any outside influences. He said the 13th juror would be considered an outside influence, despite the fact that she sat through all of the testimony.
“In 23 years I’ve never seen anything like this,” the judge said. “The jurors all seemed pretty upset, but there’s no way to unring that bell.”
Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 12, 2009 02:19 PM
Posted to Courts in general