Tribune Reporter Apologizes for Visit to Silberman Trial Juror’s Home

The federal judge presiding over Richard T. Silberman’s money-laundering trial issued a formal order Thursday forbidding contact by anyone with any of the jurors now trying to resolve the complex case.

U.S. District Judge J. Lawrence Irving issued the order after a hearing at which a San Diego Tribune reporter, who had visited a juror’s home earlier in the week and talked briefly with the juror’s son, apologized in court to the judge.

The visit by reporter Susan Shroder brought juror Sandra L. Costa to tears in a session early Thursday in Irving’s chambers with the judge and lawyers in the case.

It also prompted Silberman’s lead defense lawyer, James J. Brosnahan, to reiterate a claim that he has made frequently that extensive publicity is affecting the case. Because the San Diego press is “so hot, like in heat,” over the case, Silberman can not get a fair trial, Brosnahan said.

Silberman, 61, is awaiting a verdict on seven felony counts. He is accused of laundering $300,000 that an undercover FBI agent allegedly characterized as the proceeds of Colombian drug trafficking.

If convicted, Silberman faces up to 75 years in prison. His trial is in its ninth week.

The jury passed Irving one note Thursday, asking for clarification of a technical legal instruction on one of the charges in the case. It completed its third day of deliberations.

An attorney for the Tribune had told Irving on Wednesday that Shroder visited Costa’s home in Lake Morena Village, near Campo, and confirmed Costa’s age and occupation and the phone number at the house with a man who identified himself as Costa’s son.

Lawyer Edward J. McIntyre said Shroder intended to use the number to try to speak to Costa once the jury’s verdict was returned.

Since jury tampering is a criminal offense, Irving called Thursday’s hearing to learn whether anything improper had occurred.

Shroder said Thursday from the witness stand that McIntyre, the Tribune lawyer, had accurately relayed what had happened. She said the entire conversation at Costa’s home took “about a minute,” after which she departed.

She added that Tribune editors had not instructed her to make the visit. “I apologize to the court for any inconvenience and embarrassment,” she said.

Two other Tribune reporters were also called to court Thursday because Shroder said they, too, stood ready to report about the case once the verdict was returned. Both Chet Barfield and Eddy McNeil said they had not contacted any jurors.

Costa said in the session with Irving and the lawyers that she was crying because she was “mad at those news people.” She said she feared that the contact with Shroder might set back the jury’s deliberations, “and we have worked so hard.”

“I want to punch that lady right in the nose,” Costa said, referring to Shroder. She added, “I’m sorry for saying that, but she had no business doing this.”

Brosnahan, an experienced trial lawyer, said he had never before seen a “sobbing” juror.

“The press is so hot, like in heat,” Brosnahan said. “They’re so hot. The jury has to deliberate in that kind of atmosphere. . . . This is no place to have a trial. This is no way to decide the innocence or guilt of my client.”

Brosnahan, already twice rejected by Irving in attempts to move the case out of San Diego, did not formally renew his request for a transfer, however. He said that, since the visit had already taken place, there “is not too much as a practical matter that can be done about it.”

Irving essentially agreed. The law already forbids jury tampering, but the judge nonetheless issued an order forbidding contact by anyone--not just media representatives--with a juror or a juror’s family or neighbors.

Shroder “should not have done what she did,” Irving said, calling the visit “unfortunate.” But he said, “I think we’ve dealt with it the best that we can.”