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Retired judge says jury questions reveal mindset at Karen Read trial

Retired judge says jury questions reveal more about mindset than length of time
Retired judge says jury questions reveal more about mindset than length of time 02:29

BOSTON - As the jury in the Karen Read murder trial gathers for its third day of deliberations, we asked the question, "does deliberation time predict a verdict?"

Judge Jack Lu retired following nearly two decades on the bench. He's seen a jury or two in his time. 

"I wouldn't want to be one of the fools to think they know what is going to happen," said Lu. "They have really tight jury security, and nobody knows in Massachusetts, I will only speak of where I am, nobody knows what's going on in that jury room."

Lu said you can often tell more about a jury's mindset by the questions they ask rather than the time they spend deliberating. 

When the jury asked the judge about a piece of evidence on Wednesday, it suggested they might be going piece by piece through the trial.

"One of the ways of doing it is starting with exhibit number one, and go step, by step, by step," Lu said. 

Bulger juror on deliberations

Janey Uhlar was a juror on Whitey Bulger's trial in 2013.

"This is a lot of information. This has been a long trial," said Uhlar. "There may be a lot of arguments going on in deliberations right now. I can imagine. I don't have to imagine; I know it happens. They have a lot of stress on them right now to do it right."

Whitey Bulger's two-month trial took jurors five days to return a conviction. O.J. Simpson's trial lasted eight months and jurors deliberated for just four hours before deciding to acquit.

The jury in the Karen Read case have deliberated for 14 and a half hours and have roughly 600 pieces of evidence to consider.

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