Feb. 17, 2020 11:45a
(WGTD)---There’s been a delay in the trial of Martice Fuller, the 16-year-old former Bradford High School student who allegedly killed his ex-girlfriend and wounded her mother in the family’s west side Kenosha home last year.
A perturbed Judge Mary Wagner rescheduled the trial for a date in May after the prosecutor revealed at the start of Monday’s scheduled trial that Fuller had asked relatives and friends to contact jurors on his behalf. The veiled requests were captured on jail house phone recordings. The investigation is continuing.
Even though it appeared that no jurors were actually contacted, both Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley and lead defense attorney Carl Johnson, and ultimately Judge Wagner, expressed concern over whether a fair trial could be held, given the developments.
For one thing, Graveley said he would feel obligated to play the recordings at the trial as evidence of a “consciousness of guilt.” Johnson believed that playing the recordings would have a chilling effect on the jury, especially the two jurors who’d been purportedly targeted by Fuller.
Jurors were picked last Friday during a day-long proceeding, and were ready to hear opening statements Monday morning.
After discussing the jury tampering allegations before the jury was even brought into the courtroom, Wagner declared a recess so she could mull over the developments.
She returned about 45 minutes later to announce that the jury would be dismissed and the trial rescheduled for May 11th. A status hearing was scheduled for Apr. 16th.
Wagner ordered Fuller to have no contact—either by phone or by face-to-face visitation—with any of the family or friends that he tried to recruit on his behalf. When Fuller turned to look at family members sitting in the front row of the gallery, Wagner snapped, “You’d better look at me, young man. This is a very serious matter.” She added a bit later, “There’d better not be any 3rd party phone nonsense, either.”
To anyone within earshort, Wagner apologized for having to adjourn the trial and dismiss the jury before the trial even started. She also noted the inconvenience incurred by the 125-member jury pool that had been called in Friday for the voir dire process. Wagner then went to the jury holding room to explain what had happened.
Thinking that the trial would begin Monday, spectators packed the courtroom to overflowing. Security was exceptionally tight—about a dozen police officers and sheriff’s deputies were on hand, both inside and outside of the courtroom.
The families and friends of the defendant and the victims have been feuding for months on social media.
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