Juror in Blakely trial alleges misconduct, defense asks for mistrial
A juror who was one of 12 who convicted former Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely of two felonies on Monday today signed an affidavit alleging she was forced to go along with the verdict and, relying on the affidavit, Blakely’s lawyers filed a motion to set aside the verdicts or declare a mistrial.
Sue McEwan Pentecost, 74, said she has stage 4 breast cancer, wears a pacemaker, and was suffering from atrial fibrillation during deliberations.
“When you’re in AFib, it impacts your ability to function, to think logically and I get extremely lethargic and exhausted,” she wrote.
Blakely was convicted on Count 2, first-degree theft, and Count 13, use of his official position or office for personal gain. Both are Class B felonies punishable by up to 20 years, and his felony conviction resulted in his automatic removal as sheriff.
Pentecost said the foreperson was a woman she refers to in the affidavit as “A.M.” Pentecost said the foreperson went through the counts one by one during deliberations.
“My vote on Count 2 and Count 13 were both not guilty because I believed then and I believe now that the State of Alabama failed to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. A.M. yelled at me over and over throughout both days of deliberations, ‘I AM NOT GOING TO HAVE A MISTRIAL’ as well as other statements making it sound like this was her courtroom, her rules and the Judge’s instructions didn’t matter,” Pentecost wrote.
Pentecost said that on at least six occasions she asked the foreperson to have the bailiff advise the judge that a unanimous verdict could not be reached.
“On my last prompt to get the bailiff or judge to inform them we could not reach a consensus, A.M. ignored my instructions, sat on the table, and told me ‘what the f— is wrong with you?’ … She and other jurors began to speak to me with raised voices, they attempted to bully me and over time I gave up as I was suffering from AFib,” Pentecost wrote. “… I wanted to get out of that room because I feared I was about to die from either a stroke or a brain bleed caused by my AFib and not the words or stress of others.”
Judge Pamela Baschab, who presided over the trial, polled the jurors individually in open court after reading the verdict. Each one said they had agreed to the guilty verdict on Count 2 and Count 13.
“On Count 2 and Count 13, despite what we told the Judge when we were polled, we were not unanimous,” Pentecost wrote. “… I understand I told the Judge that was my verdict, but that was incorrect, not truthful, and I’m ashamed of myself for not saying something when I was asked.”
At about 2:30 p.m. Monday, about two hours before they reached a verdict, the jury foreperson sent a note to the judge.
“We’d like to know what would happen if we cannot be unanimous on one or more of the counts,” the note read.
After consulting with the lawyers, Baschab called the jurors into the courtroom and instructed them to continue their deliberations.
Blakely, who was in his 10th term and had served as sheriff since 1983, remains in the Limestone County Detention Center. His lawyers filed a motion minutes after the verdict asking that bond be set so he can be released until his Aug. 20 sentencing hearing, but Baschab has made no ruling.
In their motion for mistrial, Blakely’s lead attorney Robert Tuten and attorneys Nick Heatherly, Marcus Helstowki and Nicholas Lough asked that the guilty verdicts be set aside and that a mistrial be declared, or a new trial on the two counts..
“The conduct described in Juror Pentecost’s affidavit undermines the validity and calls into the question the verdicts returned on Counts 2 and 13 of the indictment,” according to the motion.
