One thing that was puzzling me yesterday, more than anything, was how could this juror have been summoned and seated on this jury if this was a setup by the defense ? After reading 20 pages of the forum this morning, I think I may have it figured out....... She wasn't.
Re: MDLR-- Maria DelaRosa _______RDLR ---her sister
The big question in my mind, when exactly was it that RDLR (Maria's sister) became friends on Juror #17 husbands Facebook ? Was it in the last few weeks, a couple of months, a year ago ?
This is my line of reasoning: Initially, maybe this juror was nothing more than just a stealth juror with an agenda and a bias, but nobody knew about her and there were no red flags. It might even be possible that this juror really DIDN'T have a lot of bias and truly believed she could be objective during the voir dire process..
However, after the jury was picked and seated, MDLR would have had access to the list of jurors names and could have researched them on social media. I have little doubt in my mind that Nurmi would have authorized a social media search to try and dig up dirt on these jurors and dig into their pasts. What she found was a possible weak link. She is a mitigation specialist, part of her job is to reckognize weak and vulnerable people.
To avoid the appearance of wrongdoing, MDLR could have had RDLR sign up as a friend on the husbands Facebook account, with the mistaken premise that nobody would ever notice. There are posters that have stated there are pictures of RDLR with juror #17's husband. That information certainly needs to be documented and saved if possible. I have yet to see such a picture, so it is speculation at this point. She was shown on his Facebook "friends" list however.
Now, what does that mean ? Well, that means through backdoor channels MDLR could have had access and influence on juror #17. Did MLDR, Nurmi, Wilmott or anybody else have anything to do with her being summoned and seated on the jury ?? Nope.
Could juror #17 have been influenced and star-struck by having an "in" to MLDR ?? You Betcha' !!
Could there have been interaction and "off-the-record" conversations either taking place or being passed along ? Yeppers.
What does this equate to ? ------> Influence peddling and jury tampering.
The problem MDLR and RDLR have is that this couple was leaving a trail of bread crumbs a mile long as they walked along the electronic pathway known as social media. They almost flaunted it.
If RDLR was the one that had an intimate relationship with the couple, then that would have eliminated the appearance of impropriety on the part of MDLR, or at least that was the plan. There could have been phone calls, dinner dates, e-mails, social drinking parties, etc.........none of which were attended by MDLR, but all of which were overseen by her.
There has to be some reason why MDLR and Jodi's family seemed to be of the opinion that they had this thing wrapped up, prior to the verdict. Her mother stated "It only takes ONE PERSON to do the right thing, We've got this ! " I was struck by the defense teams complete lack of emotion when the hung-jury was announced, I got the impression that they already had a good idea what was going to happen.
This is just me pondering while drinking drinking my coffee.....nothing more.