Defendants claim jurors were pressured
Jump to full article: New Orleans (LA) Times Picayune, 2004-07-31
Author: Susan Finch Staff writer
Intro: In an unusual hearing, 12 New Orleans jurors who decided that the nation's largest tobacco companies should pay $591 million to help Louisiana smokers kick their habits took the stand themselves Friday to answer questions about whether they felt pressured to reach a verdict by any deadline.
All 12 answered "no." They testified that neither presiding Judge Richard Ganucheau nor anyone on the judge's staff said anything about a deadline.
The questions arose after jury consultants for the tobacco companies began contacting jurors shortly after their May 21 verdict. The tobacco companies say at least two jurors in the statewide class-action trial said they were told the jury had to reach a verdict by noon on May 21. But Ganucheau barred the defense team from exploring the issue by canceling interviews it had scheduled with the jurors to get more information, according to pleadings the tobacco companies filed.
At Friday's hearing, the judge questioned the jurors himself. . . .
Charles Gay, an attorney for the tobacco companies, said he appreciated the chance to get some of the information out but also said many questions remained unanswered. The defendants, he said later, acted properly in trying to question jurors after the verdict and now have to fashion a motion for a new trial with incomplete information.
The judge in late May shut down further contact between the defendants' consultants and jurors, citing concern that the jurors were being pressured to talk. He scheduled a hearing to decide whether any ethics rules were violated.
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