A juror at odds with 11 others deciding the fate of six men charged in a Miami terrorism conspiracy said Monday she isn't willing to deliberate further because the other jurors are making her sick to her stomach.
"I'm really unwilling because I'm making myself very ill," testified Juror No. 4, who didn't show up for deliberations early Monday because of a "stomach virus."
"I'm not agreeing with what some of the other jurors are saying and they're holding that against me," she said outside the other jurors' presence. "To me, all the negativity is directed at me."
U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard asked the juror, a black woman whose name has not been made public, to come to the courtroom to answer questions about her willingness to follow the law and apply it to the evidence in the case after fellow jurors accused the woman of refusing to deliberate. The incident caused the second, unrelated delay in deliberations, which began on April 27.
Lenard said she will make her decision Tuesday on whether to remove the juror and let the remaining 11 continue deliberations, or replace her with an alternate and have a 12-member jury start anew.
Defense lawyers argued that the female black juror should be kept on the panel, but prosecutors urged her removal. The majority of the defendants are black.
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