Newsday ran a wacky story on Friday about the trial of three former executives at Long Island-based Symbol Technology, which ended after U.S. District Judge Leonard Wexler granted the defense’s request for a mistrial after the jurors sent a note to the judge saying, “We are at a deadlock. We have exhausted all options.”
Not a bad result for the defense, until the defense lawyers spoke to seven of the twelve jurors on the case, each of whom said that the jury had decided to acquit two of the three defendants (one being ex-general counsel Michael Borghese) and had decided to acquit the third defendant on all charges except one. Hence the “deadlock.”
Defense attorneys are now asking that the jurors be brought back to court to say whether they have acquitted two of the defendants. The prosecutors say that “unreported delibertations [outside the courtroom] can have no legal significance,” adding that a verdict only counts when announced in open court, not afterward.
Holy goatfuck, Batman! Details here from the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog.