The Miami News
June 9, 1987
9 ½ - month federal drug case takes its toll; jurors see duty as maddening, a 'torture'
KAREN PAYNE and MATT PRICHARD
Miami News Reporters
Twelve haggard and relieved jurors - who had expected to serve only three months - filed out of the U.S. District Court building after sitting through the longest-running trial in the history of the South Florida federal court district.
After approximately 113 days of testimony over 9 ½ months, the jurors deliberated four days before convicting two Colombian women - Marlene Navarro and Bertha Paez, who were accused of laundering more than $5.5 million in drug money - on all counts yesterday.
The trial took its toll on the jury, originally 12 jurors and four alternates.
One juror lost her job because she was absent so long, other jurors said. That juror stayed with the trial to the end. Four others, however, were dismissed for various reasons.
Marlene Carbonell, who got pregnant after the trial started, was dismissed when she developed gestational diabetes and required frequent trips to the doctor, she said.
Besides, Carbonell added, "I live very far and it was a long ride and my stomach was getting very big."
One of the dismissed jurors experienced financial difficulties after she lost her temporary job as the Christmas season passed and she needed to hunt for work, jurors said. A third juror was dismissed when she had to return to her job as a maternity ward nurse. A fourth was admitted to the hospital with heart problems.
It was. jurors said, an experience sometimes maddening, sometimes rewarding. "It was as significant as military service." said the prosecutor, Myles Malman.
"It was torture," said juror Glorius Adams, 40. "I'm just glad that it's over. I never want to have to go through any other case like that ever again."
Adams said her six children were "overjoyed" that their mother was finally theirs once again. "My little girl, who's in kindergarten, jumped for joy," Adams said.
Pam Santi, 27, a directory clerk and telephone sales worker for BellSouth Advertising, said she thought at first jury service would be fun. "Everything's fine. You get out of work for a while and everything's great."
But as 1986 turned into 1987, Santi said, the jury began to worry. U.S. District Judge Alcee Hastings informed the jury "there was no end at the light of the tunnel," Santi said.
"Then all of sudden it was nine months and here we still were," Santi said. "Trying to live your personal life around it. That was tough. That was your whole life," she said.
Santi praised her employer, who continued to pay her salary. "They really were understanding." she said. The jurors also were paid $35 a day, plus expenses such as parking and meals.
Carbonell, a housewife, said jurors were "surprised" at the amount of, time that had passed, but were not discontent primarily because Hastings "is a fantastic person and there's no way you can be upset when he's around."
The jurors had become "very friendly," said Carbonell, adding,. "It was like a family in, there."
But by trial's end, some jurors were not so content according to Estrella Gonzalez.
"The trial went for so long. The thing that really bothered me was that I was afraid it would end in a mistrial, and I didn't want. that," Gonzalez said. "I was afraid it was taking so long. And we were running out of people. We were only 12 at the end and there was no alternate.
"Why it took so long, I don't know," Gonzalez said. "It" shouldn't have lasted so long. I don't know who to blame. but it shouldn't be like that. It was due to circumstances beyond our control."
Gonzalez laughed when asked whether she would get a vacation. "I have to report to work again tomorrow," she said.
Jury forewoman Hattie Marshall said the trial "meant a lot of hardship on my family and on my job."
Marshall, a 15-year veteran clerk at Dade's Department of Housing and Urban Development, said she will have little time to recover from the marathon trial "I've got to get back to work tomorrow and help everybody get everything straightened out," she said. "I'm just hoping things get back to normal as soon as possible."
For Chris Agostino, owner of a video store in Homestead, "the trial was a big imposition on everybody. And when you own your own small business, it's difficult."
Agostino said he "had to make compromises" in order to keep his business afloat while he served on the jury, but he said the experience was "worthwhile" despite all the trouble it caused.
"I was exposed to a lot of things I've never been exposed to before," he said. "It opened my eyes to what's going on with the court system - the legal system -everything around us."
Carbonell, who said her baby is due in August, said she regretted that she could not be with her fellow jurors for the end of the trial.
"I wouldn't mind being a juror again, especially if it was with Judge Hastings, because he was very compassionate with everybody and tried to work around our schedules," Carbonell said.
Hastings told jurors before the verdict was read that their service as jurors had been "exemplary."
Following the verdict, Hastings acknowledged that the trial had been "difficult" for him as well as for jurors in terms of personal experiences. "To balance my time was not easy," Hastings said.
During the trial, the Judicial Conference of the United States sent a recommendation for Hastings' impeachment to the U.S. House of Representatives, and Hastings stepped up his public speaking and other activities designed to save his job. Hastings was accused by fellow federal judges of fabricating his defense during his 1983 trial on a bribery conspiracy charge. He was found not guilty.
Hastings said he scheduled most of his out-of-town engagements on the weekends so they would not interfere with his caseload.
The trial did not cover as many days in trial as the highly publicized 1979 "Waterfront" extortion trial of six union officials and three other defendants, according to federal court records.
While the Waterfront case ran for 123 trial days, it covered only seven months from beginning to end.
Malman said after the verdict that the jurors were "fabulous" and that if any of them suffered because of their long jury duty during the trial, the U.S. Attorney's Office is prepared to help them assert their legal rights.
Florida law prohibits the firing or threatening of employees for jury service.
The jury convicted the defendants on all counts. For Navarro, they wrote "guilty" 14 times, and for Paez twice.
According to defense attorney Ray Takiff, Navarro faces a possible maximum sentence. Paez faces a possible maximum sentence of 30 years, he said.
Mid-Trial Offer of Probation for Client
