Rivera jury starts fourth day of deliberation
The jury in the Juan Rivera murder trial that flirted with giving up Thursday returned to the task of trying to reach a verdict this morning at the Lake County courthouse in Waukegan.
Their fourth day of deliberation began just after 9 a.m., and followed a day during which at one point they declared themselves deadlocked, but then appeared to back away from that position.
Rivera, 36, is on trial for the third time for the 1992 rape and murder of 11-year-old Holly Staker of Waukegan. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison after trials in 1993 and 1998, but new trials were ordered after both convictions.
Around 2 p.m. Thursday, the seven women and five men on the jury sent a note to Circuit Judge Christopher Starck claiming they were deadlocked.
At that point, they had been attempting to reach a verdict since the end of closing arguments around 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Starck sent back a note asking the jurors to continue to deliberate and they did so until just before 5 p.m. when they asked to take a break.
The jurors were escorted to an undisclosed area in the courthouse where they were allowed to walk around and discuss anything but the case against Rivera.
They were returned to the jury room after a few minutes, and continued to deliberate until just before 9 p.m. when they asked to be released to go home for the night.
After releasing the jury, Starck told the lawyers on the case there had been no mention of the deadlock in the two communications from the jury asking for the break and to retire for the night.
"I take that as a positive sign," Starck told the lawyers. "I believe it to be an indication that they think they will still be able to reach a verdict."
The jury in the 1998 case also declared itself at an impasse during deliberations, but continued to work and reached a verdict two days after they said there was no hope of doing so.
<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=291943">Judge tells jury to keep deliberating <span class="date">[5/07/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=291652">Lake County jury resumes deliberations on Rivera case <span class="date">[5/06/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=291078">Neighbor: Rivera's electronic probation monitor broken <span class="date">[5/05/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=290664">Expert: Accused babysitter killer in a 'psychotic state' <span class="date">[5/02/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=290313">Witness: Suspect in sitter murder displayed on behavior <span class="date">[5/01/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=289736">Witness: Sitter was 'scared' during call before murder <span class="date">[4/29/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=289437">Rivera defense challenges door theories in babysitter's murder <span class="date">[4/28/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=288941">Ex-cop: Rivera acted out attack on 11-year-old babysitter <span class="date">[4/25/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=288704">Detective: Rivera acted strange after first confession <span class="date">[4/24/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=288411">Sister says Staker had sexual encounter years before murder <span class="date">[4/23/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=288080">Blue mop information at the center of Rivera case <span class="date">[4/22/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=288080">Blue mop information at the center of Rivera case <span class="date">[4/22/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>