Clancy Lawyer Wins 1-Hour Stay to Halt Mistrial After 38 Hours of Deadlocked Deliberations
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Sep 4
Clancy Lawyer Wins 1-Hour Stay to Halt Mistrial After 38 Hours of Deadlocked Deliberations
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Sep 4
Summary
Judge William Sullivan halted a mistrial for one hour after defense lawyer Kevin Reddington made an emergency appeal moments before the jury was brought in.
Reddington invoked a Massachusetts law giving the state's highest court supervisory power, calling the impending mistrial a "travesty" after Sullivan refused to send jurors back to deliberate.
38 hours of deliberations had already produced a deadlock that dated to at least Tuesday, and jurors said Thursday that one holdout juror was at odds with the rest.
Sullivan had also rejected the defense request to remove that juror, and a retired Massachusetts judge said emergency appeals in murder trials are common, though not typically this late.