Woman Held in Attack on Juror in Roommate’s Case

A U.S. magistrate denied bail Friday to a Riverside woman accused of attacking a member of a jury that had delivered a guilty verdict in a drug case involving the woman’s roommate.

Chief Magistrate Volney V. Brown Jr. said Nicquella Young, 21, poses a risk because of the attack and threats she is alleged to have made. “The court finds no conditions which can reasonably assure the safety of the community.”

Assistant U.S. Atty. Marc Harris said he will seek a grand jury indictment on felony charges that carry a penalty of up to five years in prison. “This is an extremely rare occurrence,” he said, “and the government is treating it very seriously.”

Young was in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon when the jury deliberating the case of Gail Brown, 23, returned with a unanimous verdict. Brown had been charged with conspiracy to distribute five kilograms of cocaine and using a telephone to facilitate a drug crime. Attorneys said the verdict meant Brown faces a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence.

The alleged attack occurred just after U.S. District Judge David Williams excused the jury, which had sat through a five-day trial and nearly three days of deliberations.

According to the criminal complaint, Young ran to the front of the courtroom and vaulted the short restraining fence, “swinging her arms wildly and yelling obscenities.”

Then, after screaming “I’ll get you all!” Young struck a female juror about 10 times in the face, the complaint said, before being apprehended by U.S. marshals. The juror, who could not be located for comment, suffered several cuts and bruises.

Harris said Young struck two or three other jurors as well and he may seek additional charges against Young. In court, he portrayed Young as “a danger to the jurors,” if set free and said Young had threatened potential witnesses in the Brown case.

Young’s court-appointed attorney, Phillip Bronson, described Young as a stable woman who held a job with a mortgage company, and said the incident “appears to have been an aberration.”