- Richard Nicoletti case: Mistrial declared in case involving former Philadelphia officer who pepper-sprayed protesters WPVI-TV
- BREAKING: Mistrial declared in case of ex-cop caught on video pepper spraying protestors CBS Philadelphia
- Mistrial declared in the case of a Philly SWAT officer who pepper-sprayed protesters on I-676 The Philadelphia Inquirer
- Mistrial declared in case against former Philadelphia SWAT officer accused of pepper spraying protesters FOX 29 Philadelphia
- Jury deliberations resume in trial of former swat officer Richard Nicoletti CBS Philadelphia
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tag Archives: mistrial
Harvey Weinstein: Los Angeles jury deadlocks on factors that could have increased his sentence
CNN
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After convicting former film producer Harvey Weinstein of rape and sexual assault, a Los Angeles jury could not reach a unanimous verdict Tuesday on alleged aggravating factors that could have increased his sentence.
The three charges Weinstein was convicted of – rape, sexual penetration by foreign object and forcible oral copulation – were all tied to one of his accusers, Jane Doe 1, a model and actress who testified the movie mogul assaulted her in a Beverly Hills hotel room in February 2013.
Jurors were asked to determine if Jane Doe 1 was harmed and particularly vulnerable, and if Weinstein committed the crimes with planning, professionalism, or sophistication.
Ten members of the jury found the aggravating factors had been met, but two jurors could not be swayed, one of the jurors told CNN.
“The jury has said they are not able to reach a unanimous verdict on these issues,” Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa Lench said, according to a pool report. “I am going to declare a mistrial with respect to the allegations.”
Had the jury found Weinstein guilty of the aggravating factors, a new California law would have then allowed the judge to enact a harsher sentence.
Jurors had deliberated for several hours Tuesday. After the jury indicated further deliberations would not sway them, neither the prosecution or the defense pushed to have the jurors deliberate further.
When Lench asked prosecutor Paul Thompson if Weinstein will be retried on the deadlock counts, the pool report said he responded: “We need to consult the victims first and foremost.”
Weinstein’s sentencing was tentatively set for January 9, with Lench allowing only Jane Doe 1 to offer a victim impact statement. He is expected to serve 18 years.
“Harvey Weinstein forever destroyed a part of me that night in 2013. I will never get that back,” said Jane Doe 1 in a statement released through her attorney. “The criminal trial was brutal. Weinstein’s lawyers put me through hell on the witness stand. But I knew I had to see this through the end, and I did … I hope Harvey Weinstein never sees the outside of a prison cell during his lifetime.”
The disgraced movie mogul was found guilty Monday of three of seven charges against him in his second sexual assault trial. The jury acquitted Weinstein of one count of sexual battery by restraint against a massage therapist in a hotel room in 2010.
They were a hung jury on one count of sexual battery by restraint, one count of forcible oral copulation and one count of rape related to two other women – including Jennifer Siebel Newsom, a filmmaker and first partner to California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Weinstein had pleaded not guilty to all charges against him. His spokesman said he was “disappointed” with the outcome of the trial but “he is prepared to continue fighting for his innocence.”
The verdict was reached as jurors entered their third week of deliberations, meeting for a total of 41 hours over a period of 10 days following weeks of oftentimes emotional testimony.
Two jurors who spoke with CNN after they were dismissed from court Tuesday shared their thoughts on the trial, both saying politics played absolutely no role in their deliberations.
“Everyone realized the weight of this trial. There’s a lot riding on this for both sides,” said Michael, a 62-year-old juror who declined to share his last name.
Michael said the contact the accusers had with Weinstein following their alleged assaults was a key factor in deciding the verdict. That was specifically applied to Siebel Newsom, who, according to dozens of emails presented as evidence in the trial, maintained contact with Weinstein.
Michael said he found Jane Doe 1 to be the most convincing.
“We felt horrible for everybody,” but felt like the addition of uncharged witnesses became confusing for some jurors, said Jay, another juror who also declined to share his last name.
“Everybody seemed believable. It’s hard to prove all of them with time and memory,” Jay added.
Elizabeth Fegan, an attorney representing Siebel Newsom, who was identified in court as Jane Doe 4, said they were disappointed the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on the charges related to her client.
“My client, Jane Doe 4, shared her story not with an expectation to testify but to support all the survivors who bravely came forward,” Fegan said in a statement to CNN. “While we are heartened that the jury found Weinstein guilty on some of the counts, we are disappointed that the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on Jane Doe 4. She will continue to fight for all women and all survivors of abuse against a system that permits the victim to be shamed and re-traumatized in the name of justice.”
Weinstein is two years into a 23-year sentence for a 2020 New York conviction, which his attorneys have appealed, putting more attention on the outcome of the trial in Los Angeles.
The weekslong Los Angeles trial saw emotional testimony from Weinstein’s accusers – a model, a dancer, a massage therapist and Siebel Newsom – all of whom were asked to recount the details of their allegations against him, provide details of meetings with the producer from years ago, and explain their reactions to the alleged assaults.
Additionally, four women testified they were subjected to similar behavior by Weinstein in other jurisdictions.
Weinstein initially faced 11 charges, but four counts connected to an unnamed woman were dropped without explanation. She did not testify in the trial.
In closing arguments, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez called Weinstein a “titan” who used his power in Hollywood to prey on and silence women.
Meanwhile, Weinstein’s attorneys maintained the allegations are either fabricated or occurred consensually as part of a “transactional relationship” with the movie producer, repeatedly saying there is no evidence of assault.
Defense attorney Alan Jackson called the accusers “fame and fortune seekers.”
Jane Doe 2, who was identified as Lauren Young, told her attorney Gloria Allred by phone that she was happy Weinstein was convicted on some counts despite there being a mistrial on her count, Allred said in a news conference after the verdict.
“I am relieved that Harvey Weinstein has been convicted because he deserves to be punished for the crimes that he committed, and he can no longer use his power to intimidate and sexually assault more women,” Young said in a statement read by Allred.
Mistrial declared in actor Danny Masterson’s rape trial
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge declared a mistrial Wednesday after jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked at the trial of “That ’70s Show” actor Danny Masterson, who was charged with three rapes.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo had ordered the jurors to take Thanksgiving week off and keep deliberating after they told her on Nov. 18 that they could not come to a consensus about the rape allegations after a monthlong trial in which the Church of Scientology played a supporting role.
Masterson, 46, was charged with the rape of three women, including a former girlfriend, in his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003. He pleaded not guilty and his lawyer said the acts were all consensual. All three women were members of the church at the time, and Masterson remains one.
“I find the jurors hopelessly deadlocked,” Judge Charlaine Olmedo declared after inquiring whether there was anything the court could do to move them closer to reaching a unanimous decision. She set a March date for a retrial.
Jurors said they had voted seven times Tuesday and Wednesday without being able to reach consensus on any of the three counts.
The jury foreman said only two jurors voted for conviction on the first count, four voted for conviction on the second count and five voted to convict on the third count.
Jurors were forced to start deliberations from scratch on Monday when two had to be dismissed because they came down with COVID-19. They deliberated for two days but still could not reach verdicts.
The result was a serious setback for prosecutors, and for the three women who said they were seeking long overdue justice.
The proceedings took place amid a flurry of cases on both coasts with #MeToo connotations, including the Los Angeles trial of Harvey Weinstein just down the hall from Masterson’s. In New York, Kevin Spacey won a sexual misconduct lawsuit brought by actor Anthony Rapp in New York, and a jury ordered director and screenwriter Paul Haggis to pay $10 million in a civil case there.
But at the Masterson trial, as at the Haggis trial, the #MeToo implications were largely eclipsed by the specter of Scientology, despite the judge’s insistence that the church not become a de facto defendant.
The women, all referred to as Jane Does and all former members of the church, said they were intimidated, harassed and stalked after Masterson was charged. They have repeated those allegations in a pending lawsuit against the church.
Masterson attorney Philip Cohen said the church was mentioned 700 times during trial and argued that it became an excuse for the prosecution’s failure to build a believable case against Masterson, a prominent Scientologist.
But Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller said the church had tried to silence the women and that was the reason it took two decades for the case to get to trial.
Masterson did not testify. His lawyer presented no defense testimony and instead focused on inconsistencies in the accounts of the three accusers, who he said changed their stories over time and spoke with each other before going to police.
“The key to this case is not when they reported it,” Cohen said during closing arguments. “It’s what they said when they reported it. What they said after they reported it. And what they said at trial.”
Mueller argued that Masterson was a man “for whom ‘no’ never meant ‘no,’” as shown by the graphic and emotional testimony of the three accusers.
Two women said they were served drinks by Masterson and became woozy or passed out before being violently raped. One said she thought she would die as Masterson held a pillow over her face.
An ex-girlfriend said she awoke to finding Masterson having sex with her without her consent. The defense said her claims were undermined because she later had sex with him after they broke up.
Cohen told jurors they could acquit Masterson if they thought he “actually and reasonably believed” the women consented to having sex. Mueller countered that nobody would believe the acts described were consensual, reminding jurors that one woman repeatedly told him “no,” pulled his hair and tried to get out from under him.
Mueller told jurors not to be swayed by defense speculation and said contradictions in the victims’ testimony were signs of authenticity as opposed to accounts that had been scripted.
The charges date to a period when Masterson was at the height of his fame, starring from 1998 until 2006 as Steven Hyde on Fox’s “That ’70s Show.” The show made stars of Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and Topher Grace and is getting an upcoming Netflix reboot with “That ’90s Show.”
Masterson had reunited with Kutcher on the Netflix comedy “The Ranch” but was written off the show when an LAPD investigation was revealed in December 2017.
Jake Wagner returns for third day of Pike County massacre testimony
WARNING – Trial coverage could contain graphic images or language
WAVERLY, Ohio (WXIX) – Confessed Pike County killer Jake Wagner will return to the witness stand Wednesday and testify for the third day in a row against his brother, George Wagner IV.
On Tuesday, Jake Wagner told the jury how his brother and their dad helped him get rid of the guns and other things they used in the execution-style killings of eight people in April 2016.
Pike County massacre: Complete trial coverage
Jake Wagner will take the stand around 10 a.m. after a hearing first on witnesses like him who want to testify off camera.
Jake Wagner, a confessed killer of at least five people who is a co-defendant in his brother’s capital murder trial, has been allowed to testify off-camera all week.
Their mother, Angela Wagner, is expected to testify against George Wagner IV next week.
Their testimony against George Wagner is part of their plea deals with the state.
When witnesses opt-out, only people in the courtroom can see and hear it.
Multiple other witnesses have testified on camera including both George Wagner and Jake Wagner’s ex-wives, some relatives of the Rhoden family who cried on the stand at times as they recounted painful memories of their slain loved ones, all the agents from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the deputy coroner at the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office who performed autopsies on all of the victims.
On Tuesday, Ohio’s Fourth District Court of Appeals released a decision ordering Pike County Common Pleas Court Judge Randy Deering to allow all witness testimony to be recorded on camera unless he first holds a hearing to consider why the witness should be allowed to opt-out.
The prosecution and attorneys for the media can present their arguments for and against it at the hearing.
The decision from the appeals court came after Jake Wagner already testified off camera all day Monday, describing in vivid detail how the massacre was planned and carried out, and continued to testify off camera again Tuesday.
After a long lunch break, the judge announced he would hold a hearing at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday to consider reasons for witness testimony off camera.
Then, court resumed for the afternoon with Jake Wagner continuing to testify off camera.
He told the jury his family agreed to tell law enforcement they were all at home watching TV when it happened.
“I believe my dad said don’t offer gains,” Wagner recalled on the stand.
Under questioning from Special Prosecutor Angela Canepa, he said he and his family never talked about the killings or his daughter’s custody, which is believed to be the motive in what has become Ohio’s biggest and most expensive murder case to date.
“No. I couldn’t without having immense guilt …I decided to erase the memory completely.”
On Monday, Jake Wagner nonchalantly described committing crimes such as arson and theft for years with his family and talked just as calmly about gunning down most of the eight members of the Rhoden and Gilley families.
Jake Wagner describes massacre: ‘’She looked up and made a gasping noise and then I shot her’
Prosecutors say the Wagners planned the execution-style murders for months so Jake Wagner could have sole custody of his daughter, Sophia, born in 2015 to one of the victims, Hanna May Rhoden, 19.
The other victims are her father, Christopher Rhoden Sr., 40; his older brother, Kenneth Rhoden, 44; his cousin, Gary Rhoden, 38; his former wife, Dana Lynn Rhoden, 37, and their sons: Clarence “Frankie” Rhoden, 20, Christopher Rhoden Jr., 16, and Frankie’s fiancé, Hannah “Hazel” Gilley, 20.
Legal analyst talks latest Pike County trial developments
During a sidebar in court Monday, Jake Wagner looked at several of the victims’ relatives in the courtroom and appeared to mouth the words: “I’m sorry.”
George Wagner IV, 31, is the first of the Wagners to go on trial.
He has pleaded not guilty to 22 charges, including eight counts of aggravated murder, along with his father, Billy Wagner.
George Wagner didn’t shoot and kill anyone, but prosecutors say he can and should be convicted of aggravated murder because he conspired with his family in the planning and carrying out of the massacre.
Jake Wagner told the jury Monday that his brother was supposed to be the one who shot Chris Rhoden Sr., but he froze so Jake pulled the trigger.
Jake Wagner and his mother pleaded guilty to their roles in the massacre last year. Then, Jake Wagner led investigators to the weapons and vehicles used in the killings.
On Monday, Jake Wagner told the jury he used a Walther Colt 1911 .22 caliber pistol. His father, Billy Wagner, was armed with a .40-caliber Glock. An SKS rifle also was used in the offense.
Jake Wagner testified Tuesday that he cut at least two of those three weapons in half with a grinding tool. He said his brother helped him, describing George Wagner as “strong as a bull ox.”
Jake Wagner told jurors he used a torch to melt down the firing pins and serial numbers to prevent the weapons from being traced back to the crimes.
Jake Wagner disposed of the ashes in a Rumpke Dumpster on the Peterson Road property. He said he also burned several items in an old metal feeding trough. Everything was burned until there was nothing left and the ashes were disposed in a Rumpke Dumpster on the family’s property.
He said he burned:
- The clothes and shoes they wore
- DVR they removed from a marijuana grow house on Chris Rhoden Sr.’s property
- Cell phones collected from the victims’ rooms after they were shot to death
- Shell casings at some of the shooting scenes
Prosecutor Canepa asked Jake Wagner if he planned to destroy the weapons before the slayings.
“I did,” he responded.
He also admitted on the witness stand that he and his brother dug a hole under a new barn on their land, placed the broken-up gun parts into a duffel bag and buried it under the barn.
Jake Wagner said he and his father dug the duffel back up later, removed the gun parts and put them in 5-gallon buckets filled with concrete, along with Jake Wagner’s hunting knife. He used the knife to try to pry open the door on one of the victim’s locked trailers but the knife broke off.
The buckets with the weapon parts were then filled with cement and put into the water as anchors for a goose house the brothers gave their grandfather as a Father’s Day or birthday present. Their grandfather used it on his lake at Flying W Farms in Lucasville.
Jake Wagner told the jury his brother initially helped him build the goose house.
Discovery filed in the case in Pike County Common Pleas Court on June 21, 2021, shows the state submitted several items as evidence against George Wagner IV after Jake Wagner helped them retrieve them.
The discovery report includes “concrete bucket contents,” “Glock comparisons,” “Walther comparisons” and reports from dive teams in Franklin and Ross counties who searched the lake at Flying W Farms.
Canepa showed Jake and the jury an aerial photo of the lake at Flying W Farms.
He pointed to the top right portion of the lake and said the goose house was in that location.
In her opening statement, Canepa briefly touched on BCI gun expert Matt White reassembling the weapons after they were retrieved.
More testimony about this evidence and how BCI’s gun expert literally pieced the weapons back together is expected in the coming days.
The jury also will hear 2018 wiretaps of the Wagners that prosecutors say will corroborate their conspiracy charge against George Wagner IV.
The judge overseeing this murder trial, Pike County Common Pleas Court Judge Randy Deering, has allowed each witness to decide before he or she testifies under oath if they want to have it recorded on camera or opt-out.
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Prosecutor Canepa asked him about his ex-wife, who testified Friday, and George Wagner’s ex-wife, Tabitha Claytor, who took the stand earlier this month.
Both women told the jury they fled the family home after separate episodes years apart in which they feared for their lives.
The ex-wives recounted disturbing details about living with the Wagners, describing a household of constant yelling and hitting. They said they were left out of family meetings and had to contend a mother-in-law who ran the show and hurled unfounded accusations against them, resulting in the final showdowns that ended both brief marriages.
Claytor said she fled the family home in 2014, leaving her young son behind, after George Wagner slapped her across the face and then her mother-in-law threw a large wooden board at her and “told George she was going inside to get a gun.”
Claytor testified she hid under a truck, telling the jury: “I didn’t want to get shot.”
Canepa asked Jake about the night George’s ex-wife left. He said he was there when the argument broke out and remembered it occurred a day or two before his birthday around Nov. 10 or Nov. 11.
He testified to the following claims:
He was sitting in the kitchen at the time and could see directly into the couple’s bedroom, where Claytor claimed George Wagner IV struck her.
Jake Wagner said he didn’t see his brother hit her.
“She was in a hysterical state.” He also described her as being “in an emotional craze.”
He said she “stomped into the kitchen” while he was in there with Hanna Rhoden and Angela Wagner.
She tried to take her son with George Wagner, Bulvine, out of the high chair but wound up pulling him out. She “stomped” again, this time out of the kitchen, and alleged she knocked her son’s head into the doorway.
He said at that point, George Wagner took his son from his wife.
Jake Wagner testified:
Claytor “stomped out” of the kitchen and said she was leaving.
He told his brother he would go look for her. He searched in the barn and under a truck he was working on but didn’t find her.
The two brothers got into a vehicle and went looking for her.
They found her alongside the highway in Peebles about a mile away
She was on a bicycle. George Wagner was talking to her out the vehicle window as she pedaled away and went to a gas station
Once there, she went inside. George Wagner told his brother he thought she might call the police.
Jake Wagner agreed and told George Wagner to call the police first “because the person who calls first will be served first”
He said a domestic violence report was filed. He testified he didn’t see anybody assault or threaten George’s wife.
Jake Wagner testified that his mom threw her hands up in the air and said “That’s it. I’m getting my gun.”
Canepa asked him about Alaska and when BCI made contact with Wagners.
Jake testified the family went to Alaska to pursue job opportunities and property.
BCI asked for Jake’s cell phone voluntarily but he declined, so they got it with a court order and took it before the Wagners moved to Alaska in 2017.
As the Wagners traveled to Alaska, Jake Wagner said they were made aware BCI was searching their former home on Peterson Road.
He said he wasn’t nervous but “we were all concerned” about the search.
Jake testified they were trying to keep their return to Ohio “low-key” when they moved back the following year and wanted to stay out of the “spotlight.”
They were fearful reporters would invade their privacy, he added.
Angela Wagner and George Wagner told Jake Wagner he should not make his daughter call his wife ‘Mom’ because “of how it would affect Bulvine.”
Canepa about Jake Wagner about Bulvine’s relationship with Angela Wagner.
“It was my observation that Bulvine looked to my mother as a mother figure,” he responded.
Jake was asked if he told his wife she couldn’t see her family.
“I did not want the family members of her family that has sexually abused her to know where we lived,” he answered.
He said he didn’t remember his wife being accused of food poisoning Bulvine and Sophia (she was she testified, by his mother, after making tacos for the children).
Canepa asked Jake Wagner if he remembered his mother telling him his wife had inappropriately touched his daughter.
He said he did and “covertly” asked his wife questions about it over the next few weeks.
He also told his mother there was a new rule: His daughter was not to be out of the line of sight alone with his wife.
Canepa asked if he had told his wife what he would do if he ever found out that had occurred.
He responded that if he ever found anybody molesting his child, he would “physically beat the person to death with my bare hands. I am talking about anybody, not just Beth Anne.”
His wife called a friend, a pastor from a church in Alaska who Jake Wagner also knew.
He told Jake Wagner the only way to get the truth was to pray on it.
Jake Wagner claimed on the stand his daughter told him his wife “was stealing her daddy from her and she just wanted her daddy to leave.”
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Johnny Depp v Amber Heard trial aftermath live updates: Heard appeal, mistrial, Vasquez, hate tracker…
Ex-Aussie agriculture minister calls for Heard rap over perjury claims
Australia’s former minister for agriculture says the book should be thrown at Amber Heard if she perjured herself during a trial over her failure to declare two dogs she took into the country in 2015.
Heard avoided conviction in the court case, held in 2016, but Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment is reportedly looking into claims that the actor lied under oath in the trial.
“[Biosecurity] is something that’s very important to us,” Barnaby Joyce told Law & Crime’s Sidebar podcast. “People come to Australia, and you don’t have the screw fly, we don’t have rabies, we don’t have bovine tuberculosis, we don’t have brucelosis…
“My father was a vet, and we spent a lot of time and a lot of money and a lot of pain trying to get these diseases out of our nation and we don’t want them back, and we don’t want new ones in.
“In my area, if we got foot and mouth or rabies, people would go broke. There’d be people who would lose their houses. That’s how serious it is. If you lost your house, if you lost your income, what would you expect from the court?
“How would you see justice if you realised it was just someone who flagrantly broke the law because they thought they were a little bit special?”
Joyce added that the authorities should look at the role played by those around Heard, including former husband Johnny Depp, in any perjury that might have been committed.
“I would hope that if it was the occasion that someone had perjured themselves, that firstly [there would be] a fulsome investigation of whether anybody knew about it, was complicit in it, gave advice on it. I think that should be investigated,” he said.
Judge rejects Amber Heard’s motion for mistrial in Johnny Depp case
Depp sued Heard for $50 million over a 2018 Post op-ed in which she described herself as a public figure representing domestic abuse (without mentioning Depp by name). Heard countersued for $100 million after a former lawyer for Depp, Adam Waldman, referred to her allegations as a hoax.
Following six intense weeks of testimony in Fairfax County Circuit Court — the trial took place in Virginia because The Post’s printing presses and servers are located there — a seven-person jury on June 1 found that Heard had, in fact, defamed Depp with the op-ed. He was awarded $15 million, a sum reduced to $10.35 million because Virginia law caps punitive damages. Heard was awarded $2 million after the jury found that Waldman had defamed Heard, one of three points made in her countersuit.
Earlier this month, Heard’s lawyers filed to have a mistrial declared over multiple factors, including their claim that one of the seven jurors was not actually the person summoned for jury duty in April. The lawyers argued that the jury panel list included someone who “would have been 77 years old at the time,” but that the juror who participated was a 52-year-old with the same name who lived at the same residence.
“As the Court no doubt agrees,” the lawyers wrote, “it is deeply troubling for an individual not summoned for jury duty nonetheless to appear for jury duty and serve on a jury, especially in a case such as this.”
In Wednesday’s court order, Azcarate denied several of Heard’s post-trial motions for “reasons stated on the record” but provided a detailed explanation for why the juror’s service was not reason for a mistrial. The summons did not include a birth date, according to Azcarate, and the juror wrote their birth date on a questionnaire that “met the statutory requirements for service.” The judge noted that both parties questioned the jury panel and declared it acceptable: “Therefore, Due Process was guaranteed and provided,” she wrote.
Azcarate also stated that Heard’s team was provided the jury list “five days prior to the commencement of the trial” and had numerous opportunities to object throughout the weeks-long proceedings.
“The juror was vetted, sat for the entire jury, deliberated, and reached a verdict,” Azcarate wrote. “The only evidence before this Court is that this juror and all jurors followed their oaths, the Court’s instructions, and orders. This Court is bound by the competent decision of the jury.”
Johnny Depp: Amber Heard asks court to declare a mistrial in Johnny Depp defamation case over issue with jurror
In court documents dated July 8 in the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, Virginia, which supplemented an earlier filing, attorneys for Heard claim the information on the jury panel list sent to counsel ahead of trial does not appear to match the demographics of one of the jurors.
Juror 15 was apparently born in 1970, but the summons to be a juror was for someone of the same last name born in 1945, the court documents claim.
“Juror No. 15 was not the individual summoned for jury duty on April 11, 2022 and therefore was not part of the jury panel and could not have properly served on the jury at this trial,” the memorandum reads. “Therefore, a mistrial should be declared and a new trial ordered.”
The documents state that Juror 15 and the individual originally summoned to serve on the jury both live at the same address.
“As the Court no doubt agrees, it is deeply troubling for an individual not summoned for jury duty nonetheless to appear for jury duty and serve on a jury, especially in a case such as this,” the filing continues.
It’s unclear if the court was aware of the alleged error prior to the trial.
CNN has reached out to the court and to Depp’s attorneys for comment. Depp’s attorneys have 30 days to respond Heard’s motion.
The court filing argues that Heard’s due process was compromised if the individual was not the same individual on the list, or if the clerk did not verify his or her identity.
Heard and Depp were both found liable for defamation in their lawsuits against each other last month, but the jury awarded $15 million in damages to Depp and only $2 million to Heard.
In a filing last week, Heard’s lawyers previously raised the potential issue of the juror and claimed the damages awarded to Depp were excessive and unsupported by the evidence at trial. They also accused Depp of relying on “time-barred and judicially privileged statements as the basis for his defamation by innuendo claims.”
Mistrial declared in Kenyatta Johnson federal bribery trial after jurors say they’re deadlocked – The Philadelphia Inquirer
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- View Full Coverage on Google News
Kyle Rittenhouse trial: Jurors begin third day of deliberations a day after rewatching drone video key to defense’s mistrial request
The 12-person jury, made up of five men and seven women, deliberated for about 16 hours combined on Tuesday and Wednesday. They have asked the court a handful of questions so far, including requests to rewatch much of the video evidence of the shootings.
Prosecutors received a high-definition version of the drone video mid-trial but Rittenhouse’s defense team says it received a compressed, lower-quality version from the prosecution, which described it as a technical glitch. The defense learned about the discrepancy after testimony ended and so asked the judge to declare a mistrial.
The defense has also filed a motion for mistrial with prejudice — meaning the state would not be able to retry Rittenhouse — for intentional “prosecutorial overreach” related to the prosecution’s line of questioning during Rittenhouse’s testimony last week.
Judge Bruce Schroeder has not ruled on either motion.
The deliberations come after a two-week trial highlighted by emotional and compelling testimony from Rittenhouse, the 18-year-old at the center of debates around self-defense, gun ownership and Black Lives Matter demonstrations. On the stand, he told jurors — and the viewing public — that he acted in self-defense.
“I didn’t do anything wrong. I defended myself,” he testified.
Rittenhouse is charged with five felonies: first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety. Jurors are also able to consider lesser offenses for two of the five counts. If convicted on the most serious charge, Rittenhouse could face a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
Schroeder dismissed a misdemeanor weapons possession charge and a non-criminal curfew violation prior to deliberations.
The charges stem from the chaotic unrest last year in the wake of the Kenosha police shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man. After instances of rioting and fiery destruction, Rittenhouse, 17 at the time, took a medical kit and an AR-15-style rifle and joined up with a group of other armed people in Kenosha on August 25, 2020.
There, Rittenhouse fatally shot Rosenbaum — who was chasing the teenager and threw a bag at him — and then tried to flee. A crowd of people pursued the teenager, and Rittenhouse shot at an unidentified man who tried to kick him; fatally shot Anthony Huber, who had hit him with a skateboard; and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, who was armed with a pistol.
What happened in the trial
Prosecutors called 22 witnesses over the course of six days as they sought to show Rittenhouse acted recklessly that night and provoked Rosenbaum by pointing the rifle at him, setting off the ensuing series of events.
“That is what provokes this entire incident,” Binger said in closing arguments. “When the defendant provokes this incident, he loses the right to self-defense. You cannot claim self-defense against a danger you create.”
The prosecution portrayed the three other people who confronted the teen as “heroes” trying to stop what they believed to be an active shooting. Binger also questioned the teenager’s decision to take a gun into the city in the first place, calling him a “chaos tourist.”
However, on the stand, Rittenhouse testified he acted in self-defense when he shot four times at Rosenbaum, who he said had threatened him earlier, chased him, thrown a bag at him and lunged for his gun. Rittenhouse also referred to the three other people he shot at as part of a “mob” chasing him.
He became emotional and broke down into tears during his testimony as he began to recount the initial shooting, leading to a break in the case.
In closing arguments, defense attorney Mark Richards said Rittenhouse feared for his life when he opened fire.
“Every person who was shot was attacking Kyle. One with a skateboard, one with his hands, and one with his feet, one with a gun,” Richards said. “Hands and feet can cause great bodily harm.”
The trial featured more than a dozen videos from the night that showed what happened before, during and after the shootings. Most of the facts of what happened that night were not up for debate — rather, at the heart of the trial was the analysis of Rittenhouse’s actions and whether they can be considered “reasonable.”
The prosecution faced an uphill challenge in the case because Wisconsin law requires the state to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Rittenhouse did not act in self-defense. But there are limits to a self-defense claim.
“The defendant may intentionally use force which is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm only if the defendant reasonably believed that the force used was necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself,” the jury instructions explain.
CNN’s Mike Hayes, Carma Hassan and Cheri Mossburg contributed to this report.
Kyle Rittenhouse trial verdict – live: Jury sent home for day after reviewing video as judge ponders mistrial
Watch live as Kyle Rittenhouse jury begins deliberations
Jury deliberations in the the homicide trial of Kyle Rittenhouse resumed on 17 November for a second day, with jurors requesting a review of several key pieces of video evidence that traced the shootings in Kenosha, Wisconsin on 25 August 2020.
Jurors will return to the Kenosha County courthouse on 18 November for a third day of deliberations.
Mr Rittenhouse, 18, is facing five felony charges for shooting three men in the aftermath of police brutality protests that night. The most serious charges are first-degree homicide for the deaths of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber.
Defence attorneys called for a mistrial a second time on 17 November, as Mr Rittenhouse’s legal team objected to one piece of video evidence following a series of arguments about technology used to transfer and review video files.
Earlier this week, attorneys filed a motion for a mistrial with prejudice – which would mean Mr Rittenhouse cannot be tried again on the same charges – after objecting to a line of questioning from state prosecutors in cross examination against Mr Rittenhouse last week.
The city of Kenosha also is bracing for unrest in the wake of the verdict, with Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers putting 500 National Guard troops on standby.
Follow the latest updates live:
Rittenhouse trial ‘a symbol of the Trump movement’
Right-wing political commentator Dinesh D’Souza told Fox News on Wednesday that Kyle Rittenhouse’s homicide trial is being portrayed as “a kind of symbol of the Trump movement”.
“This isn’t just a trial about Rittenhouse,” he said. “In fact the prosecution early on was very eager to show him fraternising or associating with the Proud Boys.
“They wanted to try to make Rittenhouse a symbol for Trump’s America. By contrast, the rioters, the looters, the arsonists — this is Antifa. These are the people that the media has protected for a year.
“And if you were to read media accounts of this confrontation, you would never get a sense of who these people are or what these people were doing or the violence they were engaging in or the fact that they chased Kyle Rittenhouse and not the other way around.”
Claiming that assistant district attorney Thomas Binger is acting as “the apologist for the left-wing narrative,” D’Souza said: “They want to get Rittenhouse because they want him to be a stand-in, if you will, for the whole Make America Great Again movement.”
Namita Singh18 November 2021 05:46
Tucker Carlson guest rants about ‘where we are as a country’
Conservative shock jock Jesse Kelly went on a bizarre rant about “man-hating feminists” running the country on Wednesday’s edition of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight.
Arguing that the prosecution believes Kyle Rittenhouse “should not have stopped the street animals from burning down Kenosha”, Kelly said: “They believe they have a right before God, their communist God, to burn this country down.”
He was responding to Carlson, who asked Kelly, whether “you don’t have a right to protect your own life?”
“That’s the take-away they’re going to get from it, Tucker, because it’s their entire world view,” said Kelly.
“It’s hard for Americans to accept, it’s hard for me to accept where we are as a country. Where we are is people in positions of power now, they’re the crazed nut job that used to be on the street corner protesting, the man-hating feminist who used to hide in her apartment hammering Nutter Butters. These people are now CEOs, they’re district attorneys, they’re senators, they’re presidents, and that’s why you see this.”
“They genuinely believe Kyle Rittenhouse should not have stopped the street animals from burning down Kenosha, or any other city. They believe they have a right before God, their communist God, to burn this country down.”
“I love Nutter Butters,” responded Carlson. “I am sorry to say that. I am not defending feminism in any way but I can’t resist.
“So what’s our reaction to this,” asked Carlson. “You gotta think that the people watching this trial, no matter what the outcome is, will conclude you really can’t defend yourself in the country. Like, how could you?”
“I don’t think people want to hear what we have to do Tucker,” responded Kelly. “Because what we have to do is get out of Blue areas. You are not safe in area that is blue now in this country,” he said apparently referring to the states with Democrats in power.
“Not because of street mobs either because of exactly what you are seeing here. Because the people who have the power to ruin your life will throw you in a dark hole forever, they are now in positions where they can make that happen.”
He advised the Americans to get “to a red area, become an activist, run for DA, run for school board. Make it redder.”
“We are not in the year 2000, we are not even in the year 2010. These people are now desperate and are lashing out and they are going to hurt a lot of people on the right before they are gone.”
Namita Singh18 November 2021 04:53
Bruce Schroeder: Who is the polarising judge in Kyle Rittenhouse trial criticised for Trump-linked ringtone and testy exchanges with prosecutors
ICYMI: As the nation’s eyes are glued to the televised double homicide trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, broadcast widely across news networks and streamed online by media outlets, viewers have scrutinised the judge presiding over the high-profile case, which has touched on issues of white vigilantism, racial justice protests and the criminal justice system itself.
Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Schroeder is Wisconsin’s longest-service active trial judge who, at 75 years old, has said that he has tried more homicide cases than any judge in the state.
Graeme Massie18 November 2021 04:52
Kyle Rittenhouse: How jury deliberations work, and what happens with ‘hung jury’
ICYMI: Over two weeks, jurors in the homicide trial of Kyle Rittenhouse watched more than a dozen pieces of video, including livestreams, body camera footage, aerial video from the FBI, and an interview Mr Rittenhouse gave moments before he killed two people and injured another man in the aftermath of police brutality protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin last year.
They also heard testimony from police, people who witnessed the shootings, the man who survived a gunshot from Mr Rittenhouse’s AR-15-style rifle, and Mr Rittenhouse himself.
Alex Woodward has the details.
Graeme Massie18 November 2021 03:56
Matt Gaetz ‘wants to hire Rittenhouse’ as Congressional intern
Florida Republican representative Matt Gaetz on Wednesday said he might reach out to Kyle Rittenhouse to hire him as a congressional intern.
“He is not guilty,” declared the conservative lawmaker while speaking to Newsmax. “He deserves a not guilty verdict, and I sure hope he gets it because you know what? Kyle Rittenhouse would probably make a pretty good congressional intern. We may reach out to him and see if he’d be interested in helping the country in additional ways.”
The anchor Grant Stinchfield responded saying that he “wants him here at Newsmax”.
“So maybe we’ll have to fight for him,” said the anchor. “I want him here at Newsmax. Maybe he can be a Stinchfield intern too.”
“You guys pay way better at Newsmax,” replied Mr Gaetz. “But there’s nothing like the Hill.”
Namita Singh18 November 2021 03:37
Kyle Rittenhouse: What are the charges in the Kenosha shooting case?
A jury is deliberating on the verdict in the double homicide trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, who fatally shot two men and injured another in the aftermath of protests against police violence in Kenosha, Wisconsin last year, and will consider a range of charges against him.
Throughout the two-week trial, jurors reviewed more than a dozen pieces of video, including livestreams from that night, an interview Mr Rittenhouse gave moments before he fired his gun, body camera footage, and aerial video from the FBI.
Graeme Massie18 November 2021 03:10
Who is Kyle Rittenhouse and what happened at last summer’s Jacob Blake protest in Kenosha?
The rally against injustice that took place that night was organised in solidarity with a local Black man, Jacob Blake, who had been shot and left paralysed by a white police officer two days earlier following a confrontation after his SUV was stopped.
Joe Sommerlad has the story.
Graeme Massie18 November 2021 02:08
ICYMI: What are the charges in the Kenosha shooting case?
A jury will return to the Kenosha County Courthouse on Thursday morning for a third day of deliberations.
Here is what they will be considering following two weeks of testimony in the trial.
Earlier today: Police remove man armed with a rifle from outside courthouse
A protester who calls himself “Maserati Mike” was escorted away from the steps of the Kenosha County Courthouse in Wisconsin on Wednesday morning after carrying a rifle and bullhorn up to the steps of the building.
Alex Woodward18 November 2021 00:30
ICYMI: Judge considers ending live TV trials as he condemns ‘frightening’ coverage
Judge Bruce Schroeder defended his long-standing decision to prohibit characterising people as “victims” in his courtroom and allowing Mr Rittenhouse to randomly draw juror numbers from a tumbler.
He also criticised media coverage and “irresponsible statements” that he feels have sought to undermine the outcome.
Alex Woodward18 November 2021 00:00