DETROIT -
The jury finishes for the day without any more questions for the judge. the schedule calls for the 12 ladies and gentlemen to be back at the Theodore J. Levin Federal Court House at 9:00am tomorrow morning. But, that could change if this rain changes to snow. I'll let you know in the morning if they get a snow day.
tonight, M.L. Elrick asks 2 questions, what did the jury ask. He has an answer to that one. And what can we tell by examining that question. The term "reading the tea leaves" comes up several times. Check it out tonight on Fox 2 News at 6>
11:30
So the crux of the jury's question was, are the items in count one completely separate from all the other counts. And Judge Edmunds answer is no. The RICO charges include the other criminal acts alleged.
Count 7 is Interference with Commerce by Extortion and refers to the Outfalls contract for Lakeshore Engineering working with A&H Contracting. THat's Avanish Rachmale and Tom Hardiman. Both Kwame Kilpatrick and Bobby Ferguson are charged in count 7.
The first jury question, which was handled with a phone call, involved Tony Soave's Inland Waters company.
So, if we were speculating, we could take a wild guess and say the jury was trying to figure out if the "member[s] of the conspiracy would commit at least two acts of racketeering... and that they were separate acts." That's from page 41 of the jury instructions.
Of course, we're not supposed to speculate or make wild guesses and the truth is we have no way of really knowing what the jury is working on. But, hey, it's fun.
11:19
The attorneys are hanging out in the court room waiting to see if the jury has any more questions. Jim Thomas tells the Judge that Mike Naughton's great Uncle has come to visit today and is in the court room Naughton is Thomas' number two, a tech whiz who handled the technical details of the defense team's text collection part of the case. Judge Edmunds says hello to Naughton's uncle and asks him if Mike doesn't look like Clark Kent, don't you think? He does actually and obviously the ladies like that.
No more questions from the jury. Court is adjourned, and M.L. Elrick will have the latest on Live at 11 on Fox 2 news in a few minutes.
11:13
Judge Edmunds gets ready to call in the jury but Kwame's attorney Jim Thomas is objecting to reading the jury question on the record. Says there's too much media coverage of the trial. Judge Edmunds says she thinks the question should be on the record. Calls in the jury and reads the question.
The jury question is about the difference in wording for count 7 and count 1 paragraph 7. Count 1 is the RICO charge and is based on the same alleged criminal acts as the count 7 extortion charge. The jury wants to know why the language is different.
Judge Edmunds tells the jury the difference in wording is because count 7 is an extortion count, all the counts are independent and have separate instructions.
A juror asks her to repeat the answer, she reads again.
Count 7 and count 1 paragraph 7 are based on the same alleged conduct, the difference in working is that 7 alleges extortion, all the counts are separate and independent with separate instructions.
Judge Edmunds reminds the jury again that they must not watch, read, or listen to coverage about the trial. This is because THomas objected to reading the question on the record.
Judge Edmunds excuses the jury, tells them we'll wait around for a few minutes in case they have a few follow up questions.
11:02
Court is in session. The defendants are not in the court room.
10:59
The jury is deliberating and has sent Judge Nancy Edmunds a question. She has called the attorneys to the court room and they will start a hearing in a few minutes.
8:45
Good Morning, the jury is expected to be back this morning at 9:00 A.M. An illness yesterday cut deliberations short. We'll see in a few minutes if the ailing juror has recovered. We'll also have to see how big a part this looming snow storm plays and if that might also cut deliberations short today.
Ken Martinek is Senior Producer-Investigations for Fox 2 News. You can contact him at ken.martinek@foxtv.com
