From The Nation
By John Nichols

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, on Monday morning, dismissed a juror in the trial of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby after determining that the juror had been exposed to media coverage of the trial of Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff.

After meeting with jurors and lawyers behind closed doors, the judge allowed jury deliberations — now in their fourth day — to continue with 11 jurors. He could have called on one of two alternate jurors.

The machinations surrounding the errant juror raised concerns about whether a mistrial might ultimately be declared. But that won’t happen , at least for now.

From the start of the trial, the jury has been under strict orders to avoid watching, listening to or reading news coverage about the trial and issues related to it because of concerns that contact with the news could taint the process.

The judge halted deliberations after raising concerns about information the juror learned over the weekend.

The deeper worry, according to the judge, was that the juror who had been exposed to the news reports might have shared the news with other jurors. The extent to which this might have happened was the subject of the behind-closed-doors inquiries from Walton and attorneys in the trial.

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