Shorter Break, Longer Hours Are Ordered for North Jurors

The judge in the trial of former White House aide Oliver L. North said Wednesday that at his suggestion jurors have begun working longer hours in an effort to reach a verdict on the 12 felony charges against North.

As the panel completed its 11th day of deliberations, U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell told lawyers in the case that he has applied gentle pressure to the jury members to expedite a decision by directing them to take only a half-hour for lunch instead of 60 minutes and to work an hour later each afternoon before returning to the hotel where they are sequestered.

“I have no reason to think they aren’t deliberating,” Gesell added. “They have to determine their own pace of discussions. I think we’ll just have to wait it out.”

Gesell, however, said that he suggested the longer hours because “I felt that time was being wasted.”

When prosecutor John W. Keker joked that “we’re running out of books” to read while waiting for a verdict, Gesell responded with a smile: “Well, I understand there’s a movie you could watch.”

His reference was to a four-hour television movie based on the North case that concluded Tuesday night. Jurors have been forbidden to watch any television related to the case, and federal marshals have disabled the television sets in their hotel rooms as a precaution.