Missing juror delays deliberations
Jury deliberations in the ongoing New Cassel corruption trial of three public officials were held up for several hours Thursday when the jury's foreman did not show up to court.
Court officials sent police to the juror's home and began investigating whether there were any accidents in the area in an effort to locate the juror.
The last alternate juror was called into service on Tuesday, so there would have been no one to replace the missing juror.
Acting Supreme Court Judge Alan Honorof said he planned to wait for several hours to see if the juror showed up, since he did not want the trial, which began in February, to end in a mistrial.
"These men and all the lawyers have been through hell," Honorof said, referring to the defendants, former Nassau County legislators Roger Corbin and Patrick Williams and former Town of North Hempstead Community Development Agency head Neville Mullings. "I don't want them to be subjected to this a second time if I can avoid it."
The juror was located by the time court reconvened at 2 p.m. The jurors deliberated briefly Thursday and were expected to resume on Monday.
No explanation was given for the juror's post-July 4 tardiness.
'His sacrifice made a difference': Gold Star mother honors son's memory Army Pfc. Raheen Tyson Heighter, 22, of Bay Shore, was the first serviceman from Long Island killed in the Iraq War.
'His sacrifice made a difference': Gold Star mother honors son's memory Army Pfc. Raheen Tyson Heighter, 22, of Bay Shore, was the first serviceman from Long Island killed in the Iraq War.
