There was procedural chaos inside the courtroom Tuesday where the Schoharie limo trial was held.
Two other jurors were dismissed after one was dismissed on Monday. For the remainder of this lengthy trial, they will have to make do with only an alternate jury.
Judge Peter Lynch declared one of the alternate jurors unfit to serve and dismissed that person.
Later, the judge spoke to the entire jury, telling them that he will not tolerate any juror smoking marijuana before coming to court, calling it horrific. It is not clear if this is the specific reason for the dismissal of this alternate juror.
BREAKING NEWS – Judge Lynch tells jurors: “I will not tolerate jurors smoking weed before coming to court. This is appalling.” pic.twitter.com/f5aOvCMPlb
— Dan Levy (@dlevywnyt) May 9, 2023
Meanwhile, one of the regular jurors called in sick Tuesday morning. The judge contacted her and spoke to her in open court over loudspeaker. She said her allergies started in court Monday, causing her to cough and have trouble breathing. She told the judge she was willing to try using an inhaler in court, but the judge dismissed her before she had that chance.
Meanwhile, defense lawyer Lee Kindlon said he intends to blame others in addition to his client, Nauman Hussain.
“All things being equal, if the brakes work the way Mavis said they should, these people would still be alive,” Kindlon said. “It’s frustrating when people keep saying this is Nauman Hussain’s fault, when, very clearly, everyone in the prosecution knew — the state police, the district attorney’s office, all the investigators — knew since 2019 that Mavis didn’t did what they promised they would do.”
Kindlon requested a mistrial for the second day in a row and was denied for the second day in a row. It was for the same reason she made a similar request Monday: District Attorney Susan Mallery failed to inform Kindlon that one of her witnesses was a convicted felon.
To avoid a mistrial, the judge struck all of that witness’s testimony from the record. He also instructed the jury to disregard all of his testimony.
BREAKING NEWS: Judge Lynch Denies Mistrial Request. Order that witness number 5 be removed from the record. Orders the jurors to disregard. pic.twitter.com/EqQBeWZoIw
— Dan Levy (@dlevywnyt) May 9, 2023
The 2018 crash killed 20 people: 17 limousine passengers, the limousine driver and two bystanders.
For related stories: Judge Peter Lynch Lee Kindlon Schoharie County District Attorney Susan Mallery Mavis Discount Tire Schoharie Crash Limo Schoharie Nauman Hussain
