A headline in this morning's Northwest Herald almost guaranteed readers of the article. The headline? "Mistrial declared in case of woman dropped by stripper"
Who could resist? How could you not want to know about a "woman dropped by stripper"?
In a McHenry County court case that was filed on November 16, 2007 (Case No. 07AR000679)
involving a local Woodstock watering hole, a male entertainment act and a female customer of the bar, it turns out that yesterday some members of the jury apparently were discussing the case outside the jury room and before deliberations were to have begun. And the plaintiff (the injured woman) was within earshot of them. Not good...
The article doesn't say where they were in the courthouse. Jurors are often escorted from the courtroom through a secure back hallway and then across a public corridor to another secure room. Although they must have been cautioned ("warned") by Judge Meyer not to discuss the case, they apparently did, as the article says the plaintiff and a bailiff overheard them.
No surprise that a bailiff overheard them, because a bailiff escorts the jury. Why didn't he (or she) admonish them against talking about the case? And how did the plaintiff get within earshot of them?
It might have been enough for the paper to focus on what caused the mistrial, but then who would have read that article? The headline was guaranteed to draw in readers and call attention anew to the female customer of the bar, who was injured when one of the strippers dropped her. You can read that part for yourself in the paper and try to figure out what happened.
A new jury will hear the case, when a new trial starts on March 21. Court records are shown when a search is made for Julianne Hart, the name of the plaintiff in the newspaper; however, the name Julianne Graham is shown when the case record opens. She is represented by Franks Gerkin & McKenna, a Marengo law firm.
There is some confusion in online court records, because Konstantinos Kordopitoulas is shown both as a Discharged Defendant and as a Defendant. Other defendants are Gus's Roadhouse (no relation, thank you very much), Americas Loverboys & Lovergirls, Victor Ferrari and Angel Ramos. Kordopitoulas is represented by Kililis Ridings & Vonau.
If you wonder why it takes years to get a court date for a trial, look at the record of Court Events for this case. Through yesterday, I counted 38. THIRTY-EIGHT court dates. March 21 will be #39.
Justice, justice shalt thou pursue...
Methinks the courts need to cut short the pursuit!
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2 comments:
I've been on a jury in Judge Weech's courtroom before, and everyone was told NOT to discuss the case, asked if they knew or had heard about the case before, even told NOT to use public restrooms in the courthouse but only use the ones in the jury conference room or diliberation room( on the outside chance that a lawyer, defendand or witness may also happen to use the same restroom), so this jury simply didn't listen to the judge and did exactly what they wanted to do, get out of jury duty. Sorry, but if you can't listen and follow simple directions, I sure don't want you on my jury. Sounds like another "victim" who probably contriubted to her own injury by being stupid, looking for what she thinks are "deep pockets", and wasting everybody's time and money.
Exactly! Thanks for your comment, AZ Supporter.
How did the jurors get loose from the bailiff? I have seen foot traffic get stopped in the corridor so that jurors could cross to the juror waiting room. The plaintiff never should have had the opportunity to get anywhere close to the jury.
I do wonder, though, if they did that to get out of jury duty. If that happened, then the good Judge Meyer ought to register them into Keith's Plaza Inn for 2-3 days.
On the other hand, sometimes voices are so low at the bench that words and sentences cannot be heard clearly and in their entirety. So, maybe the jury did NOT hear all the instructions.
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