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February 18, 2006
Deliberating for the Weekend
There is something encouraging, it must be said, about any jury willing to tenaciously examine evidence. In that sense, every additional hour that passes in the William Cotton deliberations is a tiny validation of American criminal justice.
But try telling that to a roomful of people stuck in court on a Saturday. The mood in the Solomon Federal Building has shifted away from tension, sailed past frustration, and landed in the arms of torpor. Reporters are no longer reading in the courtroom; we're either pacing or sleeping. Some of us have taken to standing in one place and staring at the wall.
Cotton himself appears calmer than he has at any point in his trial. He even laughed with family members this morning. The jury seems distinctly merry as well; they had a good chuckle when Judge Allan Edgar condescended to give them five extra minutes at lunch. Deliberations resume at 2:45.
N.B.: As you may have heard, District 27 Rep. Chris Clem showed up in the courtroom yesterday afternoon to protest the mention of several GOP colleagues' names in Federal wiretap transcripts. Democratic Party Chairman Stuart James didn't take kindly to the gesture. You'll hear no comment from me, other than to observe that James has been a far more faithful attandant of the trial than has Clem.
News Update | By mesh | 02:14 PM
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