A former juror took to the witness stand and made legal history Thursday, testifying in public about a jury's deliberations - a process Canadian courts normally shroud in secrecy.
The testimony added yet another bizarre twist to the trial of Gillian Guess, who is accused of having a romantic affair with a defendant while serving on the jury that eventually cleared him of a murder charge.Deidre Fitzgibbons, who served on the jury with Guess, described how behind closed doors Guess was at odds with the other jurors during the 1995 murder trial and was convinced from the start that defendant Peter Gill was not guilty.
"If you agreed with her she was quite happy, if you didn't . . . heaven help you," Fitzgibbons told the courtroom, which was packed with lawyers and court staff interested in a rare glimpse of a jury's inner workings.
Fitzgibbons is believed to be the first former juror in either Canada, the United States or British Commonwealth to be required to testify about how a jury reached its verdict, according to officials familiar with the case.
Guess, 43, is accused of obstruction of justice for an alleged improper relationship with Gill, 30, while on the jury in his murder trial. Prosecutors allege she also used her position to help Gill and five co-defendants win acquittal.
Guess has acknowledged the affair but denied any wrongdoing. She is the first former juror in Canada to face such a charge and could get up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Guess's lawyer Thursday objected unsuccessfully to allowing a former juror to testify and later suggested the judge overseeing the case in British Columbia Supreme Court bar the media from reporting the witness' name.
Fitzgibbons said Guess, who like most of the jurors was white, repeatedly said the jury would be racist if it convicted Gill, who along with several of his co-defendants in the 1995 trial traces his ancestry to India.
Fitzgibbons also described how Guess would prepare to make a "grand entrance" when the jury entered the courtroom, openly flirted with Gill from the jury box and positioning her seat to watch the audience, not witnesses.
Guess' trial has at times been conducted in a circus-like atmosphere. She has maintained an Internet site, "Off With Her Head," in which she has attacked the prosecution and media coverage of the case.
The court has ordered jurors not to read Guess's Web site.