It could end up being a good thing that the 12-person jury deciding whether former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez killed Odin Lloyd in 2013 has six alternates. They eventually may all be needed.
According to the Hartford Courant (via Deadspin), a female juror has been excused after a private hearing involving Judge E. Susan Garsh, the lawyers, and the juror.
Judge Garsh found “credible evidence” that the juror had “discussed evidence and formed an opinion about it.” Specifically, Judge Garsh found that the juror said that “in the absence of a weapon if would be hard to convict” Hernandez.
It means that the juror may have been a so-called “stealth juror,” who lied about her lack of opinions about the evidence in order to get onto the panel. As noted by the Courant, the defense previously expressed concern about “stealth jurors.” Ironically, this is one that could have delivered an acquittal, or at worst a hung jury.
The next question is whether there are other stealth jurors. Like the number of licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop, the world may never find out.
