Bell jury seems like a piece of work; mistrial declared *

After taking two weeks to arrive at a mixed bag of verdicts and undecided charges, one of the jurors has asked the judge if he or she can change their mind about Wednesday's guilty verdicts. (No, said Judge Kathleen Kennedy.) The judge ordered the jury to keep trying today to resolve dozens of pending charges, but it has not been going smoothly. From the LA Times:

The day began as chaotically as it ended Wednesday, with a juror expressing misgivings about the guilty verdicts that had been handed down. All of the guilty verdicts – each one a felony – related to the council member’s pay for serving on the small town’s Solid Waste and Recycling Authority.

In a note early Thursday, the juror cited the pressure and stress of the deliberation process as his or her reason to rethink the vote on the Solid Waste and Recycling Authority.

A juror also requested more information or evidence on Edward Lee, a former city attorney for Bell who was not called as a witness in the four-week trial. It was not clear if the note was from a different juror than No. 7, who sent a similar note on Wednesday.

Kennedy denied the request to reconsider the guilty verdicts.

“That's done; we're not going to reopen verdicts that have been reached,” Kennedy said.

A juror then also asked for clarification on the allowable payment for city housing authority members, and Kennedy's reply was seen as a blow to the defense.

* Late afternoon update: Judge Kennedy declared a mistrial on 42 remaining counts after the jury said it could not decide on verdicts. The jury was dismissed.