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Judge Summons 2006 Jury To Probe Racial Bias Claim

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By DENISE LAVOIE, The Associated Press

Published: January 4, 2008

BOSTON - One juror, a white woman, was trying to convince the others that the murder victim had been bruised during a struggle, not during consensual sex with the defendant. Bruises like those, the juror supposedly said, can happen "when a big black guy beats up on a small woman."

Another juror, a black woman, took offense and accused her of racism. Things got so heated that the two women had to be separated.

Now, more than a year after the defendant, a black garbage collector, was convicted of stabbing to death a white fashion writer on Cape Cod, the judge has taken the highly unusual step of summoning the entire jury back to court next week to testify publicly about whether racism infected the deliberations.

Depending on what he finds, the judge could order a new trial.

Questioning jurors in open court about their deliberations after a verdict is extremely rare. Jury deliberations are considered almost sacrosanct.

"It's extraordinary," said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, who warned that forcing jurors to testify could have a chilling effect.

"The jury system depends on jurors being open and frank in their views. We protect the sanctity of the jury room for that reason," he said.

Christopher McCowen, 34, was convicted in November 2006 in the rape and fatal stabbing of Christa Worthington, 46, a writer who had covered fashion in New York and Paris before moving to the small town of Truro.

McCowen, who was Worthington's trash collector, claimed he had consensual sex with her but that his friend killed her.

Race permeated the case from the first day of the trial, when McCowen's attorney, Robert George, accused authorities of focusing unfairly on McCowen.

"It's based on an assumption - a false assumption - that a Vassar-educated 46-year-old, world-traveling, wealthy heiress could not possibly have had consensual sex with a black, uneducated, troubled garbage man," George said.

The jury initially reported a deadlock but convicted McCowen two days later, after one juror was removed for talking about the case outside of court. She was replaced by an alternate.

Within days, three jurors - including the one who was removed - contacted McCowen's attorney and claimed to have heard racially biased remarks from three other jurors, including one white woman who allegedly referred to McCowen as "the big black guy" and said she was afraid of him. McCowen's attorney said if the jurors made the remarks, McCowen deserves a new trial because his right to a fair and impartial jury was violated.

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