COVID-19, people not showing up and scathing social media posts attacking the defendant caused a mistrial in a Greene County case before it got started last week.
They ran out of potential jurors who could fairly weigh the evidence.
Eleven people had been selected by noon on Aug. 30 to serve on the jury in the case of State of Indiana v. Nathanael Sexton. The 34-year-old Bloomington man is charged with strangulation and confinement, both felonies, and with misdemeanor battery.
To conduct the trial, there had to be 12 jurors and an alternate. Of the 75 potential jurors summoned, some were disqualified ahead of time for various reasons, including health issues and having a felony conviction.
That reduced the pool by about 30 people. Still, 45 or so were expected to show up for what's called "voir dire," the jury selection process.
But when court convened that Monday morning, just 36 potential jurors had arrived at the Greene County 4-H Fairgrounds community building in Switz City. The one-day trial had been relocated from the courthouse in Bloomfield so that participants could be socially distanced to follow COVID-19 precautions.
"We only had a few witnesses, so we were going to try and get the trial done in one day," Greene County Deputy Prosecutor Keven McIntosh said. "We had 11 seated by 11:30, but then we ran out."
This was the first time that's happened in his career. He recalled a case from years ago where he and defense lawyer Ron Chapman got down to one final...
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