Fearful Juror Replaced in Sect Leader’s Trial

A distraught juror was replaced Thursday as the judge in the racketeering trial of religious sect leader Yahweh Ben Yahweh struggled to hold the proceedings together.

Closing arguments were suspended as attorneys huddled behind closed doors to watch U.S. District Judge Norman Roettger question the juror, who expressed fears for her safety and suggested that the government had failed to prove its case.

The woman was replaced by one of four alternate jurors. Roettger said closing arguments would resume today and advised jurors to pack their bags and prepare to begin deliberations Saturday. The jury is to be sequestered.

Yahweh, a self-proclaimed son of God, and 15 co-defendants face up to 40 years in prison if convicted of plotting 14 killings, two attempted killings and arson. Prosecutors say the crimes were committed as Yahweh built his black Hebrew sect into a religious empire. Yahweh says others are responsible for the acts.

The day of closed-door sessions came after the woman told Roettger during a tearful, private meeting Wednesday that she was afraid and that she had been subjected to sexual harassment. She said a black juror had “hit on” her and touched her on her knee, and that two black men had approached her in a bar and recognized her as a juror. The woman is white, as is the woman alternate who replaced her.