June 17, 2009 — A juror's unruly behavior in the U.S. District Court for St. Thomas this past January was revealed in a judgment issued recently by Federal Judge Curtis Gómez.
The juror remains nameless — she is only referred to as "Juror 119" — but she certainly made an impression during a two-day drug-possession trial Jan. 26 and 27. In the dock was Lorenzo Liburd, charged with both possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and with attempting to import a controlled substance.
In November 2008, Liburd had been stopped at the airport with the drugs said to be in his possession.
Although what happened to Liburd at the trial is not described in the court document, things apparently did not look promising for him, as he filed several motions for a mistrial, one of which is still pending before Gómez. One does not file for a mistrial if one is winning a case. In this instance, the judge ruled that the juror had indeed behaved badly, but that the matter had been handled appropriately by the court, so there was no need to confirm Liburd's mistrial motion on this subject.
The problem came to the judge's attention when the jury's foreperson (known in the past as the foreman) sent a note to the judge saying that a juror was "swearing at other jurors and refusing to deliberate."
Meanwhile, a court security officer (an official known in the past as a bailiff) posted outside the jury room had observed a juror exit the jury room on more than one occasion; the same woman was involved in both instances.
The judge then polled the jury and found that 11 of the 12 agreed that one of the jurors was "refusing to deliberate. … several jurors wrote that one juror was variably singing, cursing, using foul language, ignoring other jurors, sitting with her back to other jurors, and refusing to communicate," the judge wrote.
Juror 119's own response to the judge's questionnaire was apparently unprintable. The judge wrote that "Juror 119 also included information that, in the court's view, was inappropriate to be shared with counsel."
With this evidence before him, the judge dismissed Juror 119, seated an alternative juror, and continued the trial.
Juror 119's behavior was not the only disturbance in connection with this arrest and trial. Although the judge's description was suitably muted, there apparently had been a physical conflict between enforcement agencies in the Cyril E. King Airport at the time of Liburd's arrest.
The passage in the judge's decision that sheds a little light on this follows:
"… Liburd's counsel elicited testimony from a V.I. Port Authority official. According to that official, Transportation Security Agency officials [i.e. feds] refused to comply with a VIPA inquiry into allegations that federal law enforcement agents had a physical altercation with VIPA officials at the time that Liburd was taken into custody at the airport …."
The judge also deemed this matter not to be something that would warrant a mistrial.
Gómez released both an order on the case, and a memorandum explaining the order, on June 4.
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