Years ago I helped try a case where our client had sold his company; the buyer had stiffed him on part of the purchase price. Our client was tangentially connected to Harley-Davidson, the motorcycle company, although that fact had nothing to do with the case. On the second or third day of trial, one of the jurors showed up wearing a Harley sweatshirt -- and, we thought, maybe smiling at us.
This is Wisconsin: lots of people have Harley sweatshirts, and lots of people smile. Was that all it was, or was there a message in it? There was nothing we could do about it anyway and there was a lot to do, but we couldn't help wondering. After a happy result, the jurors met us in the hallway, and she told us that in fact she had chosen the shirt because she was rooting for our side.
I remembered that story this morning, when the New York Times reported that all but one of the jurors in the Lewis Libby trial arrived in court yesterday "wearing bright red T-shirts with a white valentine heart over their clothes, to the uncertain laughter of many in the courtroom." Apparently without being asked, one of the jurors rose to explain:
The juror said they were wearing the shirts to express their fondness for the judge and the court staff on Valentine’s Day. He then added, to the judge’s growing discomfort, that they were unanimous in this sentiment, but they would all be independent in judging the evidence in the Libby case.
Maybe that's all it was, but you can't stop people from wondering. Seth Stevenson of Slate.com was in the courtroom:
What to make of this? I think it's good news for Scooter Libby. This has been a tedious case, with lots of little irritating details, and yet the jury is still upbeat. And uncynical. Valentine's Day is the most contrived holiday in the calendar, and the jury seemed ready to press sugared hearts into the palms of strangers. People with this kind of cheeriness could be open to the human side of Scooter Libby—the dedicated if fabulously forgetful fellow portrayed by the defense.
And then what to make of the juror who didn't dress along?
The one questionable juror is the art curator who in the backward style of old newsmagazines speaks. She wore no red shirt.
The New York Times says she "apparently declined." Maybe. Maybe she just didn't check her messages.