Deliberation Day 3: Jurors leave without asking questions, and without a verdict.

Jurors ponder Jackson's fate, ask no questions,
give no clues to their thinking

Jurors have gone for the day. Still no verdict. They were escorted to white Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department vans at 2:40pm, one woman averting her eyes from the hundred or so reporters gawking at the four women and eight men who hold Michael Jackson’s fate in their hands.

But the jurors were just as opaque, just as hard to read as they left for the day as they have been during more than four months in the jury box.

Today, unlike yesterday, they asked no questions of the judge.

Former prosecutor Susan Filan told us, “Monday the jurors tried to map out the rules of the road. We know they had a question at 9:50am. It was a procedural question. Today they’ve probably been going through the evidence, going through the counts, through the charges. They’ve probably not even taken a vote yet to see where people stand.”

We know that Juror #2 has been chosen as jury foreperson. He’s a Latino male, 63, a retired school counselor. He enjoys bronze casting, has a passion for Western art and is an avid horseman.

This is verdict watch. It’s simultaneously the easiest yet most stressful part of a trial for those of us who’ve been here since January. For those who don’t file live reports every half-hour, it’s a chance to kick back and hang out with colleagues.

For those of us charged with feeding the voracious media beast, it’s a question of how next to say that nothing has happened yet. Here it is: “Nothing’s happened yet.”

So here are some snapshots of fans outside the courthouse to browse through (all photos expand when clicked). I love the ladder shot up at the top of the page. Fans have jockeyed for position with stepladders for a good view of Jackson’s next arrival on Verdict Day. It’s looking like a Home Depot here.

And here are some of the banners and posters of which the fans are so proud. Each represents a notion about this trial, they are a kind of mission statement. Some of my colleagues trash the fans. I am touched by their sincerity, their caring, their devotion.

Jackson fans form prayer circles and pray for Michael several times a day, in nondenominational supplication to God. Their faith is admirable. Yeah, this from the hard-bitten journo, me. There is a far larger contingent of foreign fans than we have seen since this trial opened.

Rev. Jesse Jackson dropped by at 11 this morning and had this to say…

“There have been those who have suggested that Michael was faking injury. Michael is really hurt, had a very severe back injury, compounded by the fall in the shower and he has periodic back spasms. No doubt, stress is a factor in the spasms but he’s resting comfortably and he’s home.”

“(Michael) recognizes the gravity of the trial and its implications. It takes a lot of pressure to look  at those that he was most generous toward testify to destroy him. And yet, because of the brilliant cross-examination by Tom Mesereau, you’ve seen in all those who testified against him, wilted in the face of cross-examination always with some money motive. But Michael’s confidence in the jury and the process — the makeup of the jury — his lawyers remain very strong and those that support Michael support this process.”

“The jury has the fate, Michael must have the faith — in God and confidence in himself.”

Is Michael bedridden? “He’s bedridden by night and walks by day, like the rest of us do,” Jackson laughed.

“Michael has become the world’s top entertainer because Michael is not only a creative genius, Michael; has intestinal fortitude and Michael is tough. Michael is a champion, and the ground is no place for a champion. Champions fight back and Michael is fighting back with all of the fervor that we saw in his creativity as an artist. In his talk, no bitterness, no anger, and this abiding confidence in the judicial process.”

Dick Gregory briefs KNX on Michael's health

The KNX morning crew interviewed comedian Dick Gregory this morning. It was Gregory who got the intravenous electrolytes into Jackson’s system and acquired a heart machine to get Jackson’s body rhythms back in rhythm.

He tells it all to anchors Dave Williams and Vicky Moore. Click here to listen to the interview in your Real player. 

Comments

[Kitty]

"It was Gregory who got the intravenous electrolytes into Jackson’s system ...."

Why can't MJ just drink some Gatorade? Why all the drama? Oh yeah - to influence the jury.

[Isabel Amateur]

I don't like those cold, precise, perfect people, who, in order not to speak wrong, never speak at all, and in order not to do wrong never do anything.