No Mistrial for Waldon, Judge Rules

Billy Ray Waldon’s motion to declare a mistrial in his capital murder case was denied Thursday, but the judge granted Waldon’s wish to keep a man he has called his “best juror” on the jury.

Earlier this week, the court heard testimony from a plasterer who said he had met one of the jurors in a bar in Tijuana. According to the plasterer, the juror implied that, although he thought Waldon was innocent, he would go along with the rest of the jury if it voted to convict.

On that basis, Waldon had called for a mistrial. But, once Superior Court Judge David M. Gill indicated that he would deny that request, Waldon asked to keep the juror on the panel.

“Why would I want to get rid of my best juror?” the 39-year-old defendant had said in an interview.

On Thursday, Gill seemed to be leaning toward excusing the juror until Waldon asked that the juror be allowed to tell his own side of the story. Gill questioned the man, who admitted visiting the Tijuana bar but said he had never discussed the case with anyone.

Apparently convinced that the jury has not been tainted, Gill decided that the man may remain on the jury.

“I’m glad I followed your suggestion, Mr. Sequoyah,” Gill said, referring to Waldon by the Cherokee name he prefers: Nvwtohiyada Idehesdi Sequoyah. “I’m convinced now there is no basis for excusing this juror and no basis for questioning any of the other jurors.”

Waldon, who is accused of three murders and a string of 21 other crimes in 1985 and 1986, is acting as his own defense attorney. A self-proclaimed Cherokee who claims to know several languages, Waldon’s self-defense centers on his contention that, because of his American-Indian affiliations, the FBI made him the focus of a counterintelligence operation that framed him for the crimes of which he stands accused.

In an interview earlier this week, Waldon explained that he felt the juror in question was most sympathetic to his case because he “is fluently bilingual and has a Mexican nationality, so subconsciously the person has an international mentality. So much of my defense relates to linguistics.”

Waldon is scheduled to continue his testimony Tuesday.