daily nebraskan
Wednesday, October 31, 1 979
Juror defends jury's decision in recent Simants retrial
By Lynn Mongar
A juror in the Erwin Charles Simants retrial said that
Judge Hugh Stuart owes a public apology to the jurors fo
for his statements made after the trial.
Stuart, who presided over the retrial, in which Simants
was found innocent by reason of insanity, said the jury
shirked from its responsibility, and "didn't decide, the
case according to the evidence presented and they didn't
follow the law.
Hie juror, who wanted to remain anonymous because
of the harassment she said other jury members had
received following the retrial, said Stuart's comments were
"outrageous.
"How can he say this about us when we were in there
for two weeks and deliberated Tor as long as we did?" she
asked.
The juror also said, "I wonder if Judge Stuart
considered that the system could be damaged by reckless
statements from judges who should know better.
SHE WENT ON to say, "I understand that people can
make mistakes under pressure. I would hope he realizes
what he has done."
She said she thought Judge Stuart would not comment
when he declined immediately after the verdict had been
announced.
"I thought that was great. He should 've never
commented on it at all " she said. The juror also said that
Stuart had to believe "strongly" that Simants was guilty
and sane to make statements about the jurys decision.
"He had already made up his mind."
The juror was especially shocked by Stuart's state
ments, because "we were even told by the judge that we
weren't supposed to consider what happens to him
(Simants) afterwards." "
However, she admitted that Simants being "set free
or being "killed' was hard to keep out of her mind.
"Both of those bothered me."
She said that it should be remembered that the jury in
the retrial was not offered the option of "guilty, but
insane." That is what she would have chosen if the jury
had been given the choice, she said.
THE DELIBERATION PROCESS took about 18
hours, according to the juror. The second day of
deliberation was "pure hell," she said..
4We were all tired."
The jury deliberated from 8 a jn. until 6 pm. and then
returned at 7 pjn. for another hour of discussion. She said
that when 12 people have to work at determining a
verdict there is "a lot of debating and a lot of discussion.
It's an emotional issue and everyone got upset."
The jury sent a note to the judge the second morning
of deliberation stating that there was a hung jury, and the
judge told the jurors to deliberate longer she said. The last
hour of deliberation on the second day was the most
important part of reaching the verdict, she said.
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Things were said which really opened up the verdict
of insanity .'
There was no one thing which made her decide that
Simants was insane, she said.
"You have to look at the whole picture of what he was
before and after the crime," she said.
Many things could have caused a "psychotic break,"
described by defense attorneys, the juror said.'
THE PEOPLE WHO were having trouble deciding
"couldnVdivorce what had happened from what the jury
needed to decide." She said Simants confessed to the
murders, so the question concerned his-sanity .
She denied that jury members were ever coerced. "No
juror was pushed into a decision," she said in reference to
statements another juror made to the Lincoln Journal.
'That's what we were there for, and that was our
responsibility," she said.
The juror said, "I would think that the person who
thought she was being coerced would be embarrassed to
admit it." , , . ' . , .
The juror said that Simants should never be released
into society again.
"He is mentally ill, and. he has problem that he is
dangerous once,"
She said that she didn't think people had a right to
criticize the jury's decision because it is unpopular.,
"They weren't there. They didn't hear all the evidence
or deliberate with us," she said.
She said he was proud of her decision and the jury's
performance.
"We followed the law," she said, "and we read that
(jury instruction) sheet over and over again."
Poisoning . . .
Continued from Page 1
"There is no reason for any scare on this thing" he
said.
Weed said he visited the Chi Omega house Monday.
Although some of the girls were upset and wanted to
know what had happened, Weed said there were no
remains of the prepared food items to study and test..
Weed saidhe had met with the people involved with
the preparation of both meals and reviewed the menus,
preparation, storage, and handling methods used to see if j
unhealthy preparation or serving methods had been used.
None were found, he said. -
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