Members of a jury are supposed to sit back and pay attention during a case.
But one woman made herself into the story.
And a Florida juror made one awful mistake that turned a murder case upside down.
Florida murder case ends in a mistrial because of a crossword puzzle
A murder trial in Escambia County resulted in a judge granting the defense a mistrial after an 80-year-old woman on the jury was playing crossword puzzles during the case.
Defendant Sheila Agee sent text messages to her son Keith Agee encouraging him to murder the mother of his child, 18-year-old Brooklyn Sims.
Sims was a co-worker of Agee’s at Home Depot in Pensacola.
Keith Agee showed up at the Home Deport and shot Sims, killing her.
Judge Coleman Robinson ordered a mistrial in the case after 80-year-old juror Sallie Sue Smith played a crossword puzzle during the case.
“A particular juror has not treated this case during the evidence with the seriousness that they should have, that has apparently continued during deliberations,” Robinson told WKRG.
Smith was first caught playing her crossword puzzle during witness testimony.
She had another crossword puzzle during the deliberations for the case.
The 80-year-old claimed that crossword puzzles helped her concentrate.
“It was me,” Smith told WEAR News. “Well, I didn’t know it was a bad thing. I do that when I concentrate and I’m listening. You couldn’t see the bench or witness stand very well cause it was dark. But I could hear it… That’s just the way I do. I just do that and I had no idea and then when they told me I wasn’t supposed to do it, I stopped. And then, today, when I went into the jury room, I had another crossword puzzle.”
Judge Robinson said he had never seen anything like it during his years in the courtroom.
“It is just a single piece of paper with a crossword puzzle printed on one side and not sure what’s on the other side,” Robinson stated. “I cannot ever recall a juror doing a crossword puzzle during a trial.”
The other jurors felt threatened during the case
Two jurors in the case claimed they felt threatened for their safety.
Deliberations after the two-day case turned into a shouting match.
“We retired to the jury room and started to deliberate,” Smith said. “It became obvious to me right away that I was in the minority of one versus 11 other people… At first, it started out reasonable. A lot of shouting, and I can shout, too.”
“I do have a loud voice, but I was being shouted down by a lot of people,” Smith added.
The judge ruled that the trial was “hindered beyond repair” because of the jury.
They will retry Sheila Agee’s case next February with a new jury.
“Another jury will have to come back and listen to the evidence in front of another jury where hopefully, those certain members will follow common sense, will follow the law, will treat their fellow jurors with decency and appropriateness,” Judge Robinson said. “And will reach a verdict, whatever that may be, that is a fair and just verdict for both sides.”
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this story.
