Stevens Jury Deliberations Delayed

The jury in the public corruption trial of Sen. Ted Stevens was sent home for the day this morning by US District Judge Emmet Sullivan. He didn’t explain to them why Juror No. 4 was missing, probably because no one seems to know for sure. Last night it was reported that she was leaving for Texas to attend to a sick relative, now she reportedly has gone to California to attend her father’s funeral. Judge Sullivan plans to call her at 5 PM today to determine her status. She apparently said nothing to the marshall to indicate that she was abandoning the jury, but no one seems to know for sure if or when she will return.

Judge Sullivan has scheduled another hearing for 6 PM Sunday. At this point the prosecution reportedly wants to proceed with an alternate juror but the defense is against it and also doesn’t want to proceed with only 11 jurors. Judge Sullivan is also opposed to going with 11 jurors in light of yesterday’s problems with Juror No. 9 (McClatchy, BLT, earlier).