by KYW's Tony Hanson
The jruy in the federal corruption trial of former Pennsylvania state senator Vincent Fumo has reached a verdict, shortly after resuming deliberations that were paused by a potential jury leak.
Stay tuned to KYW Newsradio 1060 for news of the verdict as soon as it is annouced.
The judge in the trial decided on Monday morning to let jury deliberations resume with the original panel after one juror was caught posting messages about the trial on his Facebook page and sending related messages on the web site "Twitter."
The defense in the trial demanded that deliberations stopped until the juror could be questioned about his Internet communications concerning deliberations.
Monday was the sixth day of deliberations in the case, but the court delayed the resumption of deliberations until the twittering juror could be questioned.
That all took place in private -- no members of the press or public present. The judge later said he was satisfied that the juror had not received any communications about the trial from anyone and that he was still a fair and impartial juror.
An alternate juror -- who had heard the entire Fumo case but was separated when jury deliberations begain -- was brought into the court to stand by in case a sudden replacement was needed. That turned out not to be, and the jury was back on the case late Monday morning.
The defense had wanted the unidentified juror removed from the panel, contending there was substantial evidence the juror violated the court’s admonition against disclosing the status of jury deliberations. The comments cited by the defense were generally vague and include this: “Stay tuned for a big announcement on Monday everyone!”
The judge apparently disagreed with the defense's claim, and a hitch -- even a possible mistrial -- in the months-long case has been averted.
Search more 'Fumo' stories on KYW1060.com
(File photo)
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