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September 23, 2005

Killing Time

The jury left for the weekend at 4 p.m. after deliberating for two hours without a verdict.

For Sigel's supporters, it was a "been there, done that" kind of moment.

The last time this case went to trial, in April 2004, jurors deliberated for five days before the judge finally declared a mistrial. While most obesevers see a not-guilty verdict coming this time around, some of his family members looked tense.

Before the jury departed for the weekend, his fiancee Melissa Butts smiled through an obvious case of nerves. His mother Michelle Brown-Derry looked sickened by the weight of her worries from the moment the jury left the courtroom to begin its deliberations.

"You all right?" Sigel asked her at one point.

Brown-Derry sat two rows back from her son, her head lolling forward as if she were sleeping.

"She ain't asleep," said Sigel. "Mom, you all right?"

"I'm fine," she said looking up at him.

"You worried?" he asked, smiling.

"Yeah," she said.

In her mind, it's fine for spectators to see the case and figure a not-guilty verdict is on the way. But the only opinion that counts now is that of the jury—and they haven't spoken.

Through it all, Sigel remained phenomenally composed and cool. He came back from lunch, walked into the courtroom to wait and delivered a spot-on, playful imitation of Curtis Douglas, the man who prosecuted him on federal gun charges a little more than a year ago.

"The government's position," he said, his voice going raspy like Douglas', "the government's position is that the defendant has already had a bite at the apple. And if we keep letting him bite the apple, there isn't going to be any apple left, your honor."

Every so often he'd imitate the court crier's call of "all rise," drawing laughs from the friends and family who were there to support him.

At one point Sigel's attorney Fred Perri called him over to talk to a police crime scene investigator. The officer had earlier drawn inadvertant laughs during one recess when his cell phone rang by playing a snippet of Frank Sinatra's "Summer Wind."

"Listen to this," Perri said to Sigel.

"Your honor," the officer said to Sigel, "the jury has a question. They would like to ask Mr. Sigel how to rock the mike right."

The moment seemed awkward in the extreme, but Sigel didn't skip a beat, letting out a long, loud laugh.

The afternoon wore on like this, awash in wit and worry, then it was announced that the jury had left—the waiting to begin anew come Monday.

Since being released from prison on the federal gun charge, Sigel has taken his sons each Saturday to go play videogames.

This weekend won't be any different.

"See you Monday," Sigel said as he left. "See you Monday."

Posted by steve at September 23, 2005 05:07 PM

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