Jan 11, 2008 4:08 pm US/Eastern
Judge Finishes Questioning Jury On Alleged Racism
BARNSTABLE, Mass. (WBZ) ―
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Christopher McCowen and his attorney Robert George (file image)
CBS
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Judge Gary Nickerson of Barnstable Superior Court, during the Christa Worthington Murder trial. November 14, 2006
CBS
A judge finished questioning jurors Friday during an unusual hearing into whether racial bias tainted the conviction of a black trash collector for the murder of a white fashion writer.
After questioning the final five jurors in Barnstable Superior Court, Judge Gary Nickerson called a short recess and then sent the jury home.
He told WBZ the case will continue next Friday, when he will hear from two experts testifying for Christopher McCowen about the general effect of race on jury deliberations.
Nickerson has said he could order a new trial if he found that bias affected the conviction of McCowen for the rape and fatal stabbing of Christa Worthington at her Cape Cod home in January 2002.
During the first day of the hearing Thursday, juror Roshena Bohanna, who is black, told Nickerson that two women on the panel referred to the defendant as a "big black guy" and said they were afraid of him.
Marlo George said she described McCowen as a "200-pound black man" while arguing that McCowen went to Worthington's house looking for sex the night she was killed. She said she used the term black "merely as a descriptive element."
On Friday, three white jurors agreed with George, saying the remarks were not disparaging and were used only to describe McCowen's race.
Juror Taryn O'Connell said it was similar to how McCowen's lawyer referred to his client's race during the trial.
"It was always used descriptively, just as it was in the courtroom." O'Connell said.
Nickerson was forced to remind the jurors several times that they should testify only on what comments they heard, not on their personal opinions.
McCowen, who was Worthington's trash collector, claimed he had consensual sex with her but that his friend killed her. His defense maintains authorities wrongly focused on him as a suspect because they did not believe Worthington, a 46-year-old writer who had covered fashion in New York and Paris before moving to the small town of Truro, would have a consensual relationship with a black garbage man.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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