Judge Meets With Defense Team in Henley Case : Courts: Lawyers for co-defendant of former Ram player attend session amid allegations of improprieties on jury that convicted five men on cocaine trafficking charges.

Defense attorneys representing a man convicted of cocaine trafficking with former Ram cornerback Darryl Henley met behind closed doors Monday with a federal judge who has initiated an investigation into alleged jury tampering in the case.

The session came amid new allegations from two jurors that a third had discussed the case before deliberations and was predisposed to convict Henley and his co-defendants from the outset of the trial because of their race.

The third juror has denied the allegations in an interview with The Times.

Henley, 28, and four other men were convicted March 28 of conspiring to run a cocaine trafficking ring between Brea, Memphis and Atlanta during the summer of 1993.

Defense attorneys James D. Riddet and William J. Kopeny, appearing on behalf of Darryl Henley’s uncle, Rex Henley, declined to comment on their discussions with U.S. District Judge Gary L. Taylor. The judge did not take any action or set a hearing in the matter.

Defense attorneys Monday were expected to present Taylor with statements from former jurors Bryan Quihuis and Michael Malachowski containing allegations of racism and jury misconduct by a third juror, according to sources close to the case. Malachowski was released from the panel early in the case.

The new information, which included additional details of an alleged $50,000 bribe offer to Quihuis, was expected to lead to a defense request for a new trial, the sources said.

But it was unclear Monday whether the information had been given to Taylor or whether the request for a new trial was made.

Gerald Chaleff, one of two attorneys who represented Darryl Henley during the trial, appeared in court Monday but did not participate in the closed-door hearing because the football player is in the process of replacing him with a new lawyer.

In transcripts of statements obtained by The Times, Malachowski and Quihuis alleged that a third juror discussed the case while car-pooling with them to court. They said that juror pronounced the defendants guilty early in the trial, using a racial slur for African Americans, according to the transcripts. Four of the five defendants are African American.

Before Monday’s closed-door session, government attorneys told the judge they wanted to see any defense documents presented to the court alleging jury misconduct. Taylor did not rule on that request, and the prosecutors were not allowed to attend the closed-door meeting. The prosecutors have declined to comment on the allegations of jury misconduct.

In his sworn statement, Malachowski also offhandedly accused Quihuis of concluding the defendants were guilty early in the trial, and alleged that Quihuis referred to the black defendants in the same derogatory way.

According to a transcript of a statement Quihuis gave to a defense investigator, Quihuis denied talking about the case early in the trial. There is no specific response to Malachowski’s allegations of racist remarks in that transcript.

Last week, Taylor ordered an FBI investigation after Quihuis contended that shortly before the jury began deliberating in late March, he was contacted by Malachowski with an offer to accept money from Henley to vote for acquittal. Malachowski and Henley have denied the bribery allegation.