One phone-jamming juror was rushed to the hospital suffering chest pains, after spending Tuesday (December 13) trying to reach a verdict on James Tobin.
Spending that whole day in the same courthouse’s corridors, I’d been surprised by the cheerful calm of Tobin’s attorneys and friends.
Thinking it over, I shouldn’t have been surprised. So what if this jury finds Tobin guilty? His defense (fully financed by the very deep pockets of the Republican National Committee) is primed to set off on appeal after appeal. Eventually, some diehard Republican judge will grab the chance to set Mr. Tobin free.
My guess–and it’s purely a guess–is that things are much tenser inside the jury room, as 12 NH jurors and 2 alternates try to live up to the responsibility on them. Surely the defense was successful in profiling* at least one juror who could be won over into a sympathy vote for Tobin and his young family. Surely at least one juror has been won over by the defense attempt to frame this case as “Don’t let mean Allen Raymond hurt nice Jim
Tobin.” And my guess is that at least one juror is holding fast to the evidence showing that Tobin, in fact, promoted McGee’s illegal scheme to disrupt an election.
The jury recessed all day today (Wednesday), but will resume tomorrow…
* I asked one of the energetic young DC lawyers (EYDCL) watching the first day (“I represent one of the defendants in the civil suit”) if the defense had some ideal juror profile guiding its peremptory challenges. The EYDCL said in pitying tones, “Well, of course. They have a jury consultant.”
It’s a routine expense for big lawfirms to “profile” the kind of jury members they want. Even a full mock trial rehearsal with 60 “jurors” would cost less than $6,000 –less than one day’s worth of Tobin’s litigation team.