After the jury in the trial against Lee Elbaz continued to deliberate on Monday, a surprising event popped up on Tuesday. A juror had to be replaced. This was reported by Simona Weinglass in the Times of Israel. According to the jury members statements, he had rather suspected the innocence of Lee Elbaz until Sunday.
At a dinner in a restaurant in Maryland on Sunday, however, the juror would have listened to a conversation at another table. The conversation was in Hebrew and thus he did not understand the details. But he did understand that it was about Lee Elbaz. He also would have noticed that Lee Elbaz was called a bad person in the conversation and that something would be missing in the case.
This conversation would have influenced his opinion and he obviously saw himself unable to continue to participate in the proceedings as an impartial juror. He told the judge that on Tuesday. He was then dismissed by the judge as a juror and replaced by a substitute member. The jury’s deliberations had to start from scratch.
Evidently, it was not explained why the juror had waited until Tuesday to inform the judge after hearing the interview on Sunday. Apparently, the juror had taken part in the deliberations on Monday.
Barry J. Pollack, the defense of Elbaz had requested a mistrial due to the incident. But that must have gone too far for the judge. Strange, isn’t it? A fool who thinks evil of this incident. We can be curious about the verdict.
