The defense is going to file an appeal that the hung juror should be replaced and deliberations should continue. The basis is the belief by the defense that the juror was unwilling to follow the Judge’s instructions.
So, the jury will be sent home. The Supreme Judical Court (The MA Supreme Court) will rule on it…(on Labor Day weekend—good luck with that) and we pick it back up on Tuesday.
This case is a mess and should have been settled before it even got to court.
I agree with you, with one caveat. The claim that he juror was not following the judge's instructions was a characterization by some of of the other jurors and the defense attorney. I belive the judge clarified this morning that the juror in question declared that he was following the instructions and that this was his deeply-held moral conviction.
That said, the solution can never be to replace the holdout juror. That's why we have twelve people and not one.
If a hold-out juror can be replaced with a more compliant one, then what is the point of having a trial if we can just replace jurors during deliberations unitl we get one that votes the way we want?
-PJ