Client was a former female fifth-grade school teacher who was charged with 14 counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a minor and 3 counts of statutory rape. The prosecution alleged that my client had engaged in child molestation concerning two of her former male students. If convicted, my client was looking at more than 30 years in state prison. After a HIGHLY PUBLICIZED JURY TRIAL which garnered extensive media coverage, the court declared a mistrial based upon juror misconduct. Upon speaking with the jurors after trial, we discovered that had the court not declared a mistrial, the verdict would have resulted in an ACQUITTAL on 3 of the charges regarding one alleged victim. As for the remaining alleged victim, the jury would have been hopelessly deadlocked resulting in a hung jury. The split would have been 9 in favor of NOT GUILTY and 3 in favor of guilt. It was revealed that the jurors who engaged in misconduct were those who voted for guilt.
