I was at my neighborhood pool tonight with my oldest daughter. I was talking to her friends moms as she was playing in the pool when one of their friends walked over. I know this woman very casually (I know her name and say hi when I see her) and she was confirming to one of the moms that it was the Brad Cooper case she was a juror on. My jaw hit the floor. She sat down at the edge of the pool and I told her I was obsessed with the trial and asked if I could talk to her about it and ask her questions. She said she didn't mind. So I spent nearly 2 hours discussing the case and jury with her. It was an amazing conversation partly because I knew one of the jurors. Anyways, I asked if she minded if I posted about our discussion and she said she didn't. I told her I would not disclose anything personal about her. We went over tons of things about the prosecution team, the defense team, the evidence presented, the notes from the jury and anything else I could think of to ask her. I will post a few of the interesting (to me at least) items. Feel free to ask me about anything specific and I'll post what she said if it was something we talked about. If not, I can possibly ask her if/when I see her again.
- Initial "straw vote" when they first started deliberations were 2 guilty, 2 not-guilty, 8 undecided.
- 2nd vote at the end of Wednesday was 10 guilty, 2 not guilty
- 1 NG changed to guilty overnite Wednesday. Last vote soon changed to guilt as well
- If there wasn't the google search, she would not have voted guilty.
- The jury was very frustrated with the lack of evidence before the google search
- The jury was very frustrated with the continuous stream of people brought in to say BC had an affair
- She personally was bothered by Jessica Adam.
- The jury back in the jury room was usually very funny/laughing at jokes, etc. After the google search testimony, they were silent when they went back.
- She personally wished the defense had introduced a few character witnesses on BCs behalf.
- One of the jurors was a techie and basically dismissed the timestamp stuff (remember they didn't hear all of the "evidence" regarding this).
- After reading some of the stuff they weren't allowed to hear, she's not completely sure about the verdict. I personally told her that they made a decision based on what they were presented, and she shouldn't second guess anything now.
- She was very happy the defense didn't question Mrs. Rentz. She was disappointed in how the prosecution cross-examined Mrs. Cooper.
- Dateline is trying their best to get the jurors to discuss the case on the show. She doesn't want to. They are trying to take the jurors to dinner this week to convince them. I encouraged her to do it, but she doesn't want to.
Now for a few comments on the juror notes.
- The note about people staring at the jury was actually specifically about KL. Apparently she was staring at a juror that wasn't taking notes and wouldn't stop. Made the juror feel VERY uncomfortable.
- 4 notes were sent about talking in the courtroom. All 4 were sent because of KL/HP talking/laughing. She said it was so bad at times that they couldn't hear the testimony.
- The "we want our life back" note actually ticked her off. A juror did that on their own.
- The juror dismissed right before deliberations was apparently a single mom that had to pick her child up from college and had no one else that could have done it. The juror wasn't expecting to get booted because of it.
- The issue with the JA email to the prosecution was ridiculous. The juror in question was doing something church related. Her friend at church new she was part of a jury, but didn't know for what. But given the length, she said she thought it was the BC trial. She simply said that she wasn't allowed to talk about it, and nothing else was said. This was also the day that Gessner said that people would probably start figuring out what they were doing...but they couldn't talk about it. Anyways, her friend then mentioned to her hairdresser that she had a friend on the jury. No idea how JA got involved from their, but her friend had police show up at her house to question her about it. But the juror didn't do anything wrong because she didn't discuss the case or anything about it.
Well that's it for now....I'll be glad to share anything that I can remember (again, this is with her permission).
- Initial "straw vote" when they first started deliberations were 2 guilty, 2 not-guilty, 8 undecided.
- 2nd vote at the end of Wednesday was 10 guilty, 2 not guilty
- 1 NG changed to guilty overnite Wednesday. Last vote soon changed to guilt as well
- If there wasn't the google search, she would not have voted guilty.
- The jury was very frustrated with the lack of evidence before the google search
- The jury was very frustrated with the continuous stream of people brought in to say BC had an affair
- She personally was bothered by Jessica Adam.
- The jury back in the jury room was usually very funny/laughing at jokes, etc. After the google search testimony, they were silent when they went back.
- She personally wished the defense had introduced a few character witnesses on BCs behalf.
- One of the jurors was a techie and basically dismissed the timestamp stuff (remember they didn't hear all of the "evidence" regarding this).
- After reading some of the stuff they weren't allowed to hear, she's not completely sure about the verdict. I personally told her that they made a decision based on what they were presented, and she shouldn't second guess anything now.
- She was very happy the defense didn't question Mrs. Rentz. She was disappointed in how the prosecution cross-examined Mrs. Cooper.
- Dateline is trying their best to get the jurors to discuss the case on the show. She doesn't want to. They are trying to take the jurors to dinner this week to convince them. I encouraged her to do it, but she doesn't want to.
Now for a few comments on the juror notes.
- The note about people staring at the jury was actually specifically about KL. Apparently she was staring at a juror that wasn't taking notes and wouldn't stop. Made the juror feel VERY uncomfortable.
- 4 notes were sent about talking in the courtroom. All 4 were sent because of KL/HP talking/laughing. She said it was so bad at times that they couldn't hear the testimony.
- The "we want our life back" note actually ticked her off. A juror did that on their own.
- The juror dismissed right before deliberations was apparently a single mom that had to pick her child up from college and had no one else that could have done it. The juror wasn't expecting to get booted because of it.
- The issue with the JA email to the prosecution was ridiculous. The juror in question was doing something church related. Her friend at church new she was part of a jury, but didn't know for what. But given the length, she said she thought it was the BC trial. She simply said that she wasn't allowed to talk about it, and nothing else was said. This was also the day that Gessner said that people would probably start figuring out what they were doing...but they couldn't talk about it. Anyways, her friend then mentioned to her hairdresser that she had a friend on the jury. No idea how JA got involved from their, but her friend had police show up at her house to question her about it. But the juror didn't do anything wrong because she didn't discuss the case or anything about it.
Well that's it for now....I'll be glad to share anything that I can remember (again, this is with her permission).