Everything that has been done to date in the Trial of Casey Marie Anthony may be nothing more than a dress rehearsal. Up until now there have been a number of outcomes of the trial speculated by bloggers and media pundits alike.

The most common outcomes speculated are, guilty of first degree murder with death penalty. Guilty of first degree murder but life without possibility of parole, guilty of a lesser included charge, and so on.

Few if any have speculated on what might turn out to be the right answer. The most dreaded word of all, MISTRIAL.

All it takes is ONE juror to vote “not guilty” (or the unlikely opposite verdict of not guilty) to make what will make all of this a complete waste of time. In a complicated process of jury selection that nobody really has any control over, the one juror who could put a wrench in the works is juror #1319.

There are a couple of problems created by this juror being called for jury duty and NOT being dismissed over hardship issues. The first is that she is what is known as a “protected class” of juror. She is both a female and an African American. It is harder to dismiss a juror in this category. Surprisingly it is NOT the defense team that caused the problem but the prosecution.

There was a bit of a discussion between the prosecution and Judge Perry today in regards to juror 1319 in an attempt to get the juror excused and Judge Perry’s ruling that the juror remain on the panel. Judge Perry admonished that the prosecution had ample opportunity to question the juror and fell short.

Now, at this point, some are probably wondering what is so important about this juror that the prosecution wants her out and the defense wants her in. The reason is an answer she gave during her voir dire questioning. She stated, quite simply that she “could not sit in judgement of others.”

The state argued, that due to her religious beliefs, she could not recommend the death penalty even if there was evidence for doing so. Defense atty Baez on the other hand, argued that it was not due to any judgement issues but to “not spreading rumors about others” and used a bible passage to make his point.

As of this writing, the fate of juror 1319 remains unknown. The prosecution is not giving up. The defense is not giving up and Chief Judge Perry is standing his ground.

Stay Tuned

MURT