Jury Recalled to Testify About Alleged Race Bias
A judge who oversaw the high-profile trial of a man convicted of murdering fashion writer Christa Worthington has taken the unusual step of calling the entire jury back to testify next week about whether race impacted their deliberations.
During a hearing set for Jan. 10 and 11, Barnstable Superior Court Judge Gary Nickerson is expected to question three jurors who submitted affidavits that they heard racially biased remarks from other jurors, including one white woman who referred to the defendant as “the big black guy” and said she feared him, the Associated Press reports.
George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley characterized the recall of the jury panel, “extraordinary.” Turley also warned that forcing jurors to testify in this manner could have a chilling effect.
“The jury system depends on jurors being open and frank in their views. We protect the sanctity of the jury room for that reason,” Turley is quoted saying.
Worthington, 46, was found raped and murdered in her Truro home in 2002. Her garbage truck driver, Christopher McCowen, who is black, was convicted in November 2006. McCowen had asserted that he had consensual sex with Worthington and someone else killed her.
David Frank, a former prosecutor who now writes for Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, said that calling a jury back isn’t unprecedented, but that the public hearing will offer a rare look behind the scenes, the Cape Cod Times reports.
“This is the first time a hearing is being held in open court where jurors are being brought in to discuss what happened during their deliberations,” Frank is quoted saying.
