Long night last night! I was awakened by voices on my computer (I had left the live link to the trial open and fallen asleep) when the courtroom became active once again upon the request by the jury to re-listen to the 911 tape. And the CD they had been provided would not play. At that point the judge sent an inquiry to the jury to ask if they wanted to break for the night and come back in the morning.
The jury said they wanted to continue! (The judge looked slightly perturbed at this answer from the jury. But he did NOT order them to stop deliberating, as I assume he could have.)
The attendant drama of the court trying to enable the jury to hear the 911 call certainly kept me awake! It seemed the court was stymied. They did not want to send a computer back to the jury. No one present in the courtroom was able to copy the tape. There was even an inquiry of the press members present, asking if THEY knew how to copy the tape! Finally, the Prosecutor had to leave the courthouse, go to his office, and copy the tape there.
The drama intensified when the judge called the Prosecutor at his office to ask how things were going with the copying. He was told it would be finished in about 10-15 minutes. It was at that point, I believe, that the judge shared a statement from the jury that listening to the 911 tape would be the last piece of evidence they needed to review and then they would render a decision.
So everyone was pretty much on notice from that point on that there would be a verdict coming shortly. The gallery began to fill with press, family members, and spectators. Cathy from CourtChatter was in the courtroom all that time tweeting.
At midnight, the Great Seal of the State of Utah spontaneously fell off the wall, to the great surprise of those waiting in the hot and crowded courtroom. (Air conditioning in the building had been shut off at 5:00PM) I am not a person who believes in the paranormal. I have a great tendency to put things down to coincidence. But I do wonder, what are the chances of that Seal just falling off the wall at precisely midnight on a night when there just happens to be the unusual presence of all these people awaiting a verdict in a trial? Likely few trials had EVER gone this late in this courtroom! Strange, strange occurrence, wasn't it?
In any case, workers came into the courtroom, drilled new holes into the wall, and rehung the Great Seal. All of which we learned by tweet. Word got passed that since all parties were present in the courtroom already, the agreed upon 45 minute wait between the announcement of and the reading of the verdict would be waived.
Next, the judge was live, announcing there was a verdict. Everything then went very quickly, with jury brought in, verdict given to bailiff, then to judge, then read aloud. There was a loud, spontaneous outcry, presumably from the family members when the word "GUILTY" was read for Count #1, murder.
I did not perceive the reaction of the family members to be "horrified" at the verdict. I took it to be a release of a huge flood of long pent-up emotions. Hey, women cry. And these women cried. Wracking, shaking sobs. And I don't blame them a bit! I'd have done the same.
I think for the next few days the jury members will be taking the time to educate themselves to ALL the facts in this case. Won't they be happy with themselves for bringing in that GUILTY verdict?
I was glad to read that the family got to meet with the jurors after the verdict. And I am surely hoping we hear from at least a few of them!