Apr 17, 2006 10:55 pm US/Central
Dismissed Juror Could Have Changed Ryan Verdict
Evelyn Ezell Said Her Views Differed From Other Jurors
Pamela Jones also contributed to this report.
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
The lengthy deliberations in the George Ryan corruption trial included the dismissal of two jurors. In the end, the panel reached a unanimous decision.
"We can to do a job, and we did that job," said jury foreperson Sonja Chambers.
As CBS 2's Joanie Lum reports, one of the jurors who was replaced said things might have been different if she was allowed to stay.
"I don't feel the jurors were fair and impartial," Evelyn Ezell said.
When Evelyn Ezell was dismissed from the first jury, she didn't violate the gag order. But through her son, she told the media she would have plenty to say after a verdict was reached.
On Monday at her South Side home, Ezell said the verdict would be different if she hadn't been removed.
"If I had stayed on the jury, some of those verdicts would have probably, we would have been hung on some of the verdicts," she said, referring specifically to the charges involving false statements to the FBI for George Ryan and attempted extortion for Larry Warner.
Last month, through her son, Ezell said she was only one of the 12 on George Ryan's side. But on Monday, she revealed there was another.
"This other juror said to me that they were not going to beat their heads up against the wall trying to reason with these other jurors if they want him guilty," she said.
Ezell says she's disappointed in the legal system and her fellow jurors.
"When you go into deliberations say things like, 'The rest of his cronies are guilty and they can go to jail. Why can't he?'"
Ezell says when the jury discussed the case, she felt like many jurors had already sided with the prosecution.
"Well, there were statements during deliberation made by some of the jurors such as, 'We're bringing this case on from the prosecution's point of view because they brought this to trial,'" she said. "My point is that we were supposed to look at all the evidence, not just some of the evidence. And that's what one of the notes was that I sent to the judge."
She also said she was discouraged by what she says was name-calling during those deliberations.
"Things like: 'You've gotta be an idiot. You're stupid. You're a dog,'" she said. "I mean, a dog, you know. It's crazy."
Ezell said she'd never serve on another jury.
"Oh, I'll never do it again," she said.
Ezell was dismissed from the jury Mar. 27 after accusations she lied on her jury questionnaire.
Ezell addressed that issue Monday. She says it had to do with a criminal charge that was thrown out. She said she misunderstood what the questionnaire was asking her, that she'd never been convicted and she thought that meant that particular case didn't exist.
She wished both defendants well on their appeals.
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