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Tyco juror No. 4 was 'very scared'
Grand jury investigating possible jury tampering in mistrial; some transcripts released by judge.
April 8, 2004: 11:21 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN) - A grand jury is investigating allegations of jury tampering in the six-month-long Tyco corporate corruption trial, which ended last week in a mistrial after a juror received a "coercive" letter.

Juror Ruth Jordan told New York State Supreme Court Judge Michael Obus last Friday that she was "very, very scared" by the letter, court documents released Wednesday show.

The documents were released by the judge after several media organizations filed a motion seeking access to transcripts of closed-door discussions in the case and any motions that resulted in the mistrial declaration.

However, the judge did grant the request of the Manhattan district attorney's office to keep some documents sealed to protect a criminal investigation into the alleged tampering and the integrity of the grand jury investigation.

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In one of the documents released, the district attorney's office said the grand jury investigation began April 2, the day Obus announced the mistrial.

The controversy surrounded Jordan, juror No. 4, who was identified in at least two newspapers after she allegedly flashed what appeared to be an "OK" sign to the defense table once during the 11 days of contentious jury deliberations.

She was believed to the lone holdout juror who was arguing for the acquittal of former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski and former CFO Mark Swartz, who faced several charges including grand larceny, conspiracy and securities fraud.

After her name was published, Jordan told Obus she received a phone call from an unidentified man who asked her, "How much is the Kozlowski team paying you?"

In the transcripts, Jordan said she just hung up the phone.

"The phone call did not scare me, I thought it was junk," she told the judge.

Jordan said her son and daughter were very worried about her, but she felt she could still deliberate in good faith.

The transcripts showed that several days later, Jordan received the letter and told Obus about it.

"I am so frightened about everything, and this says to me that there are people out there that think I am somehow very, very wrong and bad, and done something terrible, and that they are blaming me, and it scares me so, I don't know," Jordan said.

"I do feel a concern... that my life is permanently changed and that there is going to be... I'm going to look like some kind of pariah," she added.

When the judge asked Jordan if what was going on outside the jury room would prevent her from deliberating properly, she said, "That is going to interfere."

"This woman is not able to function as a proper juror now," Obus said, according to the transcripts. He then declared the mistrial.

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A transcript of the letter was not among the documents released Wednesday.

Obus also referred to Jordan's alleged hand gesture, noting that there was never a factual inquiry into whether she intentionally made a gesture.

"The more I hear about it, the less I'm inclined to think that necessarily happened," the judge said.

New York Police sources told CNN Tuesday the letter to Jordan was written by a man in Boston who says he thought a mistrial had already been declared, and it had more of a "complaint" tone than a "threat" tone.

The Manhattan district attorney's office has said that it will seek to retry Kozlowski and his co-defendant, former Tyco CFO Mark Swartz.

The office scoffed at the notion of accepting a plea bargain but would not comment on exactly which of the 32 counts would be recharged. Kozlowski and Swartz had been charged with conspiring to loot Tyco and its shareholders of $600 million worth of bonuses, special loans and stock grants.  Top of page




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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.