Records: Behrman jury drank while off-duty

Wednesday the Morgan Superior Court released transcripts from the final day of the John R. Myers II trial. The transcripts outlined a detailed question and answer session with jurors and security officers about their after-hours activities. The records showed that defense attorney Patrick Baker called for a mistrial after hearing the jurors' answers, but Judge Christopher Burnham denied the request.\nMyers, 31, of Ellettsville, was found guilty for the 2000 murder of IU student Jill Behrman later that day, Oct. 30. His sentencing hearing, during which he could receive 45 to 65 years in prison, is Friday.\nAccording to the documents released, the 14 jurors and alternate jurors were interviewed individually by Burnham after a request by the defense's attorneys. One juror had been dismissed earlier in the trial for personal reasons.\nThe jurors were asked four questions pertaining to their access to media reports and communication devices, their consumption of alcohol beyond the two drink per night limit and inappropriate conduct after-hours. Burnham closely interviewed the members of the jury, who for the most part said they had not broken any rules. One juror mentioned being allowed to call home on a cell phone. Burnham then interviewed the bailiffs and security officers until the lunch break.\nJuror No. 94, a 49-year-old man, said he thought he had seen jurors intoxicated, drinking "32-ounce beers" during the second or third night of the trial, when they ordered pizza to the hotel. Another juror said it was unlikely that drinks that large were sold and added that on one occasion, they had been limited to one drink when it was a larger size. Juror No. 94 said he was asleep and got upset because a couple of the jurors and a bailiff, Jodie Law, were running up and down the halls.\n"Everyone was talking about it," the juror told the judge, adding that the sheriff then took the security tape of the evening out of the hotel's security machine. Juror No. 94 said two of the women with children seemed to drink a lot and another jury member "drank heavily." \n"They were really giggly," the juror told Baker when he questioned him further. "Personally, I don't hang around people like that."\nWhen Burnham told Baker he had seen no evidence of the jurors violating the two-drink limit, the defense called for a mistrial, citing the use of a bailiff's cell phone to call a family member. That was the defense's fourth known call for a mistrial during the two-week trial.\nProsecutor Steve Sonnega responded by saying that the evidence from security shows that everyone was in bed by midnight each night and said the defense was making a "mountain out of a molehill."\nBurnham denied the defense's motion for a mistrial, saying he saw no evidence of improper outside information being received by the jurors and adding that the behaviors brought to light were "normal" given the circumstances.