"The waiting is the hardest part."

Tom Petty (and me)

As I said, I think that a long deliberation on my case is worse than a short deliberation. I imagine that in the jury room, there are a few strong opinions on each side, and a bunch of people in the mushy middle. My view was that if the jury was going to vote Not Guilty (something juries rarely do in murder cases), then I needed them to all feel that instinctively when they began deliberations, and that if they didn't believe it instinctively, then those who wanted to acquit would never convince those who wanted to convict to change their vote.

I've tended to notice that those jurors who try and sway people to acquittal have a tougher time changing minds than those trying to sway towards conviction. The fact is, jurors believe that when is filed, there is something there, and they should not come back with an acquittal unless there is a good reason to do so, regardless of the law.

On Friday, the jury spent the whole day in deliberations, they didn't ask for readback, they didn't ask any questions, they didn't send any notes out. They were back there deliberating the whole day, with just the exhibits to aid them. I think this means that they may be split, and as I mentioned, this generally means that they are pushing towards conviction. All I can do is wait, though, and hope.

Since this case was generally a fact based case, the judge didn't have to make too many rulings. But, I think he made a few that could result in a reversal, but since California Courts have about a 98% affirmance rate, I'm not putting any hope in that. If the case hangs, I think that would be generally bad, as I think the prosecution would be favored the second time around. In all, I think that this long delay is bad news.

But, in the meantime, I just have to wait.......