DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: A "HANGMAN GESTURE" BY A JURY FOREMAN IS RACIST *ROLLS EYES*

Attorneys downplay comments by juror
By Denny Walsh - Bee Staff Writer

Federal prosecutors said Saturday there is little or no evidence to support allegations of juror misconduct in a motion for a new trial of a Lodi man convicted of terrorist activity.

Misconduct claims on behalf of Hamid Hayat are barred by rules of evidence, cannot be substantiated, actually describe proper conduct, or describe conduct not harmful to Hayat, prosecutors maintain in a 187-page brief opposing a new trial.

In their October motion, defense attorneys cite a statement by juror Alicia Lopez that jury foreman Joseph Cote made a "hangman gesture" and once said "hang him" in discussions with other jurors during the trial.

"These bare bone allegations, on their face, are vague and ambiguous and do not constitute substantial evidence that (Cote) was actually biased against the defendant," wrote prosecutors S. Robert Tice-Raskin and Laura Ferris in the opposition brief.

Defense attorneys also cited statements by jurors Lopez and Theresa Berkeley-Simmons that Cote used racial slurs during the trial, including his opinion that Pakistanis or Muslims all "look alike" if dressed the same.

Hayat is a U.S. citizen of Pakistani descent.

But the prosecutors answered that "it is far from clear whether Cote's reported statement is a 'racist statement,' or what it reveals about the foreperson's views in general with respect to individuals of different races, nationalities or creeds."

The statement does not seem to be aimed at "any individual or group in a marked or virulent derogatory fashion," Tice-Raskin and Ferris wrote.

Also highlighted in the defense motion are Cote's post-trial statements to an Atlantic magazine reporter suggesting that, when deliberating, he likened Hayat to young Pakistani men responsible for London subway bombings.

The Atlantic article should be given little weight given its "double-hearsay nature," and testimony regarding jury deliberations is inadmissible, the prosecutors answered.

Beyond that, they said, the "mere fact that the foreperson recalled the London bombings or that some of the bombers were Pakistani does not suggest he is prejudiced against Pakistanis or Muslims; that recollection is simply a neutral recollection of widely reported and known information."

Additionally, case law allows a juror "to utilize his/her life experiences and general, common knowledge when evaluating evidence," they wrote.

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Pertinent Links:

1) Attorneys downplay comments by juror