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CNN Live Today
Interview with Toni Blake
Aired September 17, 2002 - 12:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, if you were watching CNN later in the afternoon yesterday, you will know that David Westerfield, the man convicted of kidnapping and killing Danielle van Dam was convicted -- as you know, he was convicted, but he was sentenced to die for his crime, the jurors came together. That sentencing will be November 22. The judge can either accept the jury's recommendation, or give him life in prison without patrol.
Joining us now is Toni Blake, a jury consultant in San Diego -- good to see you, Toni.
TONI BLAKE, JURY CONSULTANT: Hi, there.
PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about what happened here. I remember yesterday afternoon, we got word that the jury deadlocked, handed a note to the judge, and said we can not come to a decision here. What happened?
BLAKE: Well, we saw at 11:45, they handed a note to the judge and said we can't come to a decision and we need further guidance. Then, at about 1:25, they were actually let go for the lunch break at the 11:45 mark, at 1:25 they reconvened at their usual spot, and when the bailiff went to pick them up to convene for the court gathering, they handed him another note, apparently, that said that we need a little more time. Then at 1:35, he got another note that said we have reached a verdict, and they brought that verdict in and read it as you saw.
PHILLIPS: So, is that whole process odd?
BLAKE: Very, very odd. All the legal commentators, we've all been talking with each other, and we've never seen anything like that before. It -- when we let them -- when were let go on the lunch break, we actually saw them meandering around amongst the press. They were in that -- for lack of a better word, media gauntlet out in front of the courthouse, and they kind of -- there were four or five of them that were, for the very first time in the entire trial, actually moving amongst the press, like they were convinced that they had finished their job.
So it was kind of interesting to see a verdict in the end.
PHILLIPS: So, is it normal for a judge to come back and say, OK. I can't believe this is happening, but I need you to all go back and just refocus on the evidence here. I mean -- how do you think the judge reacted to this, and is that what he did? BLAKE: Well, what is interesting is that they had come in with a hung verdict. What would have happened was he is supposed to poll all 12 of them and find out if every single member believes that further deliberation would still produce no opinion. And if one member of that jury said, I think I could deliberate further, or that the jury could deliberate further and reach an opinion, then he would be required to turn them around and send them back into the jury deliberation room.
So it is not all that unusual that that would happen. The only unusual part about it is the timeline of how the notes came in. So we wouldn't even be having this discussion at all if they had come in, said they were hung, and he sent them back to deliberate. They could come back one minute later with a guilt -- with a death verdict, and there would be no discussion.
But what I think what Feldman is looking into is whether there was some changing of the verdict over the lunch break, or whether that last holdout juror changed her mind from either undue pressure, media influence, or outside of the 12 member conference that they are supposed to do all their deliberations in.
PHILLIPS: All right. Toni Blake, jury consultant. Thanks for your time. We are having a bit of an audio problem there, constant humming. We apologize for that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 17, 2002 - 12:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, if you were watching CNN later in the afternoon yesterday, you will know that David Westerfield, the man convicted of kidnapping and killing Danielle van Dam was convicted -- as you know, he was convicted, but he was sentenced to die for his crime, the jurors came together. That sentencing will be November 22. The judge can either accept the jury's recommendation, or give him life in prison without patrol.
Joining us now is Toni Blake, a jury consultant in San Diego -- good to see you, Toni.
TONI BLAKE, JURY CONSULTANT: Hi, there.
PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about what happened here. I remember yesterday afternoon, we got word that the jury deadlocked, handed a note to the judge, and said we can not come to a decision here. What happened?
BLAKE: Well, we saw at 11:45, they handed a note to the judge and said we can't come to a decision and we need further guidance. Then, at about 1:25, they were actually let go for the lunch break at the 11:45 mark, at 1:25 they reconvened at their usual spot, and when the bailiff went to pick them up to convene for the court gathering, they handed him another note, apparently, that said that we need a little more time. Then at 1:35, he got another note that said we have reached a verdict, and they brought that verdict in and read it as you saw.
PHILLIPS: So, is that whole process odd?
BLAKE: Very, very odd. All the legal commentators, we've all been talking with each other, and we've never seen anything like that before. It -- when we let them -- when were let go on the lunch break, we actually saw them meandering around amongst the press. They were in that -- for lack of a better word, media gauntlet out in front of the courthouse, and they kind of -- there were four or five of them that were, for the very first time in the entire trial, actually moving amongst the press, like they were convinced that they had finished their job.
So it was kind of interesting to see a verdict in the end.
PHILLIPS: So, is it normal for a judge to come back and say, OK. I can't believe this is happening, but I need you to all go back and just refocus on the evidence here. I mean -- how do you think the judge reacted to this, and is that what he did? BLAKE: Well, what is interesting is that they had come in with a hung verdict. What would have happened was he is supposed to poll all 12 of them and find out if every single member believes that further deliberation would still produce no opinion. And if one member of that jury said, I think I could deliberate further, or that the jury could deliberate further and reach an opinion, then he would be required to turn them around and send them back into the jury deliberation room.
So it is not all that unusual that that would happen. The only unusual part about it is the timeline of how the notes came in. So we wouldn't even be having this discussion at all if they had come in, said they were hung, and he sent them back to deliberate. They could come back one minute later with a guilt -- with a death verdict, and there would be no discussion.
But what I think what Feldman is looking into is whether there was some changing of the verdict over the lunch break, or whether that last holdout juror changed her mind from either undue pressure, media influence, or outside of the 12 member conference that they are supposed to do all their deliberations in.
PHILLIPS: All right. Toni Blake, jury consultant. Thanks for your time. We are having a bit of an audio problem there, constant humming. We apologize for that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
