San Diego
Nancy Hoover Hunter’s attorney Thursday asked the judge in her fraud and tax-evasion trial to sequester the jury because of recent media attention focused on the jury, which is deliberating the 197 charges against her.
Robert S. Brewer Jr. made the motion before U. S. District Judge Earl B. Gilliam after seeing a commentary by Channel 10 newsman Michael Tuck, which compared the accused swindler to convicted madam Karen Wilkening.
Gilliam, who also discovered that a juror had seen a newspaper headline about the case, said for the first time that he will consider sequestering the jury.
“It’s possible I may change my mind,” Gilliam said.
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