THE COURT: Alright, ladies and gentlemen, when you reach the jury room, you should elect one of your number as foreperson and you will consider and complete one of the following verdict forms.
And I am going to read those to you. You will first take up and consider the charge, charges of capital murder. And that verdict form reads as follows:
We, the jury, find Jessie Lloyd Misskelley Jr. guilty of capital murder in the death of Michael Moore, Stevie Branch and Chris Byers. And there's three separate blocks. If that is your unanimous verdict, then you would check the blocks that are applicable to your findings because they are individual verdicts, and the foreperson would sign. However, all twelve of you must agree to arrive at any verdict. And uh, the foreperson would sign in the place provided if that is your verdict.
If you are unable to arrive at a verdict on capital murder, you would then take up and consider the charge of first-degree murder. You'll be given a verdict form (sneeze) - excuse me - that reads as follows:
We, the jury, find Jessie Lloyd Misskelley Jr. guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Michael Moore, Stevie Branch and Chris Byers. And again, there are three separate findings. If any one of those are your findings, then you would check the appropriate block and the foreperson would sign in the space provided. And again, you're reminded that your verdict or verdicts must be unanimous, that is all twelve of you must agree.
If you are unable to arrive at a verdict on the charge of capital murder or first-degree murder, you would then take up and consider the charge of second-degree murder. That verdict form reads similarly as follows:
We, the jury, find Jessie Lloyd Misskelley Jr. guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Michael Moore, Stevie Branch and Chris Byers. Again, there's three separate findings. If any one of those is your finding, that is unanimous, then you would check appropriately and the foreperson would sign. If you are unable to arrive at -- strike that.
If you unanimously agree that the defendant is not guilty, you would complete and sign the following verdict form which reads as follows:
We, the jury, find Jessie Lloyd Misskelley Jr. not guilty. If that is your unanimous finding, then the foreperson would sign in the space where provided.
In just a second, I'm going to have the Sheriff, we've tried to clean up the jury room back there and I'm going to have the Sheriff escort you to the jury room. And the two ladies that have been the alternate jury -- jurors -- I'm gonna excuse you at this time with a special thanks to the Court for your patience and your participation. You're welcome to remain -- I'm gonna feed the rest of 'em, you can stay and eat, too, if you care to. Uh, you just won't be able to participate in their deliberations. Ah, I'll probably send the Sheriff back. It's 4:20, when we order food it will take about an hour to get here, so we'll probably allow you to write out what you want and we'll see to getting it here. The evidence will, will be also delivered back to the jury room. So at this time, the two alternates will be excused --
FOGLEMAN: Your Honor, can we approach the bench --
(TALKING OVER EACH OTHER)
THE COURT: Yes? What'd I do?
(LAUGHTER)
FOGLEMAN: Nothing. We just wanna approach one more time.
THE COURT: Okay.
DAVIS: As a precautionary matter with this flu stuff going on, in the event deliberations last [?], do you think it might be a good idea to at least keep the first alternate sequestered or something so that, so that in case somebody got sick we could have somebody to substitute?
THE COURT: Well, the only problem is, is I, there is a case out of Harrisburg where Judge Pearson -- well, of course, he sent the juror home and then sent after him -- and then put him back in --
DAVIS: I hate to do that to somebody, but I'd sure hate to have to retry because somebody got the flu.
THE COURT: Okay, I think that's a good point Alright, I'm gonna -- the lawyers have pointed out a point that I have to agree with. To my two alternates, rather than send you home, I'm gonna require that you stay here sequestered, which means you can sit in the jury box there or a comfortable place that we find for you, and ask that you stay in the event that one of the twelve that goes back and deliberates becomes ill. Uh, it being the flu season and I've heard an unusual amount of coughing, so it, if I send you home, then I couldn't replace one of the jurors with you, so I'm gonna ask that you stay for at least a reasonable period of time. Okay? Alright, ge -- the twelve principal jurors can now retire to the jury room to consider your verdicts.
