The trial of United States vs. Wiley Griffin, Liz Croley, Chris Kines and Wade Umbach continued Tuesday, June 9.
On Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Albany, Ga., the jury has heard closing statements by Josh Bell, attorney for Liz Croley, and Tina Hunt, attorney for Wade Umbach.
Next up after a short recess is Kermit Dorough, attorney for Chris Kines. Then the government will get to make an additional statement. Each person has up to an hour to speak, although so far the statements have been about 30-45 minutes each.
Update at 11:21 a.m.:
At 11:20 a.m. Tuesday, the 12 jurors who will decide on 7 counts faced by the 4 defendants were sent to the jury room. There, they will pick a foreman and begin deliberating.
3 p.m. update:
It’s 3 p.m., and the jury reportedly has some questions for Judge Louis Sands, so the jury will return to the courtroom briefly for the judge to answer their questions, after which jury deliberation will continue.
3:30 p.m. update:
The jury asked Judge Sands to define the phrase, “resisting arrest.” Sands instructed the jury, “to resist arrest means to obstruct, oppose or endeavor to prevent the lawful action of a law enforcement officer, encompassing a lawful arrest.” Judge Sands said that the jury could find to what degree someone was resisting arrest, but the overall consideration should be, “whether in that circumstance, was there an unreasonable use of force?” The judge also reminded the jury they were bound by all of the judge’s instructions, and not to place extra weight on any one of the instructions.
5:30 p.m. update:
The jury chose to recess for today and resume deliberations at 8 a.m. Wednesday. No indication was given as to how far along they are in making decisions.
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