thedrifter
05-15-07, 07:16 PM
Concerns not enough to affect Morrison verdict
By Stephen Manning - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday May 15, 2007 19:46:20 EDT
WASHINGTON — A member of the military jury that convicted a Naval Academy midshipman of sexual assault last month said Tuesday there was “jury irregularity” during deliberations, but a judge ruled that his concerns didn’t warrant overturning the verdict.
Marine Maj. Robb Mansfield provided few details about the deliberations that prompted him to come forward during a hearing at the Washington Navy Yard, but said he was concerned about the way the panel found Kenny Ray Morrison guilty and sentenced him to two years in the Navy brig.
“I felt there was a certain lack of impartiality,” Mansfield said on the witness stand.
But under carefully worded questioning from the military judge, Mansfield, the second lowest-ranking member of the seven officer jury, said he wasn’t pressured by others to vote a particular way or that outside influence swayed the verdict.
Marine judge Col. Steven Day said Mansfield presumably believed “someone more senior was in his opinion not impartial,” but did not probe further to avoid breaking the confidentiality of the jury’s deliberations. He ruled the statements did not satisfy any part of a legal test that could allow him to set aside the jury’s decision.
Morrison was convicted in April of sexually assaulting a female midshipman at a Washington hotel last year. His lawyers contend he was court-martialed in part because of political pressure faced by academy officials to reduce sexual assault on campus. They plan to appeal the verdict.
Mansfield was one of a pool of about 30 officers from the academy who were sent to the Navy Yard for jury selection. During questioning before the panel was picked, Mansfield said he thought academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Rodney Rempt wanted to make an example of Morrison, but he was still seated on the jury.
Morrison’s lawyers also complained that the jury pool was stacked with senior officers to more easily win a conviction. During the sexual assault trial last summer of another midshipman, former Navy quarterback Lamar Owens, a jury of relatively low-ranking officers cleared him of rape.
On April 12, two days after Morrison was sentenced, Mansfield contacted a legal officer at the Naval Academy, according to an e-mail the legal officer wrote that was attached to court filings. In a subsequent conversation, he said the case was weighing on his conscience because certain members did not follow the judge’s instructions during deliberations.
Mansfield used phrases such as “beyond a reasonable doubt” and “jury tampering,” according to the e-mail. But on the stand Tuesday, Mansfield said the use of the word “tampering” was not accurate, describing it instead as “irregularity.”
In response to questions from Day, Mansfield said he didn’t think Rempt influenced the verdict or that any other outside pressures affected their deliberations. And he said he didn’t feel pressured by senior officers to vote in a particular way. Day concluded that wasn’t enough to declare a mistrial.
Mansfield did not immediately return a call Tuesday seeking comment.
The jury’s president, Navy Capt. Daniel King, said the jury “conducted ourselves very professionally, and beyond that I have no comment.”
Morrison’s family had hoped the relatively rare development of a juror stepping forward would be grounds for overturning the verdict. Morrison said afterward that “justice will come out eventually.” In a courtroom outburst, his father, Ken Morrison, sharply criticized the limitations on what Mansfield could say.
“If this judge won’t allow that major to speak ... how do you get anything fair in the case?” he asked.
Ellie
By Stephen Manning - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday May 15, 2007 19:46:20 EDT
WASHINGTON — A member of the military jury that convicted a Naval Academy midshipman of sexual assault last month said Tuesday there was “jury irregularity” during deliberations, but a judge ruled that his concerns didn’t warrant overturning the verdict.
Marine Maj. Robb Mansfield provided few details about the deliberations that prompted him to come forward during a hearing at the Washington Navy Yard, but said he was concerned about the way the panel found Kenny Ray Morrison guilty and sentenced him to two years in the Navy brig.
“I felt there was a certain lack of impartiality,” Mansfield said on the witness stand.
But under carefully worded questioning from the military judge, Mansfield, the second lowest-ranking member of the seven officer jury, said he wasn’t pressured by others to vote a particular way or that outside influence swayed the verdict.
Marine judge Col. Steven Day said Mansfield presumably believed “someone more senior was in his opinion not impartial,” but did not probe further to avoid breaking the confidentiality of the jury’s deliberations. He ruled the statements did not satisfy any part of a legal test that could allow him to set aside the jury’s decision.
Morrison was convicted in April of sexually assaulting a female midshipman at a Washington hotel last year. His lawyers contend he was court-martialed in part because of political pressure faced by academy officials to reduce sexual assault on campus. They plan to appeal the verdict.
Mansfield was one of a pool of about 30 officers from the academy who were sent to the Navy Yard for jury selection. During questioning before the panel was picked, Mansfield said he thought academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Rodney Rempt wanted to make an example of Morrison, but he was still seated on the jury.
Morrison’s lawyers also complained that the jury pool was stacked with senior officers to more easily win a conviction. During the sexual assault trial last summer of another midshipman, former Navy quarterback Lamar Owens, a jury of relatively low-ranking officers cleared him of rape.
On April 12, two days after Morrison was sentenced, Mansfield contacted a legal officer at the Naval Academy, according to an e-mail the legal officer wrote that was attached to court filings. In a subsequent conversation, he said the case was weighing on his conscience because certain members did not follow the judge’s instructions during deliberations.
Mansfield used phrases such as “beyond a reasonable doubt” and “jury tampering,” according to the e-mail. But on the stand Tuesday, Mansfield said the use of the word “tampering” was not accurate, describing it instead as “irregularity.”
In response to questions from Day, Mansfield said he didn’t think Rempt influenced the verdict or that any other outside pressures affected their deliberations. And he said he didn’t feel pressured by senior officers to vote in a particular way. Day concluded that wasn’t enough to declare a mistrial.
Mansfield did not immediately return a call Tuesday seeking comment.
The jury’s president, Navy Capt. Daniel King, said the jury “conducted ourselves very professionally, and beyond that I have no comment.”
Morrison’s family had hoped the relatively rare development of a juror stepping forward would be grounds for overturning the verdict. Morrison said afterward that “justice will come out eventually.” In a courtroom outburst, his father, Ken Morrison, sharply criticized the limitations on what Mansfield could say.
“If this judge won’t allow that major to speak ... how do you get anything fair in the case?” he asked.
Ellie