Jury Deliberations Begin

The Judge gave the jurors their instructions this morning and they began to deliberate.  They could come back with a verdict at any time.  Until they do, the rest of us are just left to wait for notes from the jury.  The notes could say anything.  They could ask for a read-back of testimony, a clarification of the law, anything- until they send a note that says they have a verdict.

Thus far there have been two notes. 

The first, which the court received at 11:25 AM asked for several pieces of evidence including:
- a readback of testimony of the first officer to respond to the scene at George's apartment.
- All of the email correspondence between George and Katehis.
- All of the Craigslist documents.
- The EMT Report (the EMT that picked up Katehis and took him to the hospital for his injury(
- The crime scene photos.

The second note, which the court received at 12:25 PM asked for the elements included in the charge, which in this case is "2nd Degree Murder".

The Judge brought the jury back into the court room and read back the testimony of Officer Tavis Watson who described the scene when he entered George's apartment.

The Judge then re-read the elements necessary to prove Second Degree Murder.  In order for the jury to find Katehis guilty of Second Degree murder, there are three elements that they must find:

1) That on March 20th, 2009, John Katehis caused the death of George Weber.
2) That he did so intentionally.  In this sense "intent" means with a conscious objective or purpose.
3) That the defendant wasn't justified in taking George's life (in this case justification refers to defense claims of self defense).

I can't describe what it's like waiting for this verdict.  Time almost has no feeling or meaning and the anxiety and anticipation is almost overwhelming.  Hopefully it ends soon with a swift guilty verdict.