The forewoman of the jury that sentenced Donte Johnson to death went from the jury box to the witness stand on Tuesday as she fended off allegations that she had predetermined Johnson should be sentenced to death and that she persuaded other jurors to vote for death in hopes of making a book she planned on writing about the case more profitable.
Johnson's lawyer was trying to have Johnson's sentence overturned on those grounds.
But the juror, Jami Carpenter, testified that she didn't decide Johnson should be sentenced to die until after all the evidence was presented and the jury began deliberations.
The jury sentenced Johnson to death on May 5 for the 1998 execution-style murders of 20-year-old Tracey Gorringe, 20-year-old Peter Talamantez, 19-year-old Matthew Mowen and 19-year-old Jeffrey Biddle.
Carpenter said she had "thought it might be interesting to write a book" but had decided against it. She said if she did write the book it would be about the jury process and have nothing to do with the Johnson case.
Several of her fellow jurors corroborated her testimony. They said Carpenter did discuss possibly writing a book on "the flaws of the jury system." They also said that she didn't have a predetermined sentence prior to deliberations and never worked to persuade them to vote for death.
One fellow juror, Jeremy Summers, said that in his opinion Carpenter was against the death penalty.
Before Carpenter took the stand, District Judge Lee Gates privately reviewed notes that were subpoenaed from Carpenter.
In denying the defense's motion, Gates said that after looking at the notes and hearing both Carpenter's and several other jurors' testimony he found no "bias, prejudice or misconduct by the jury."
Gates entered the notes into evidence under seal. He did say they consisted of her juror notebook and some loose-leaf paper notes discussing how long juror breaks were and what time court started and ended each day.
After her awkward switch from the jury box to the witness stand, Carpenter sat outside the courtroom and said she couldn't believe "this is how a juror gets repaid for their service."
"When they asked (me), 'Do you want to serve on this jury?' I remember saying who would want to," Carpenter said. "I didn't want to but I thought I had to and should because I can be fair and honest.
"Being questioned like this is the biggest slap in the face anyone could receive."
Carpenter said she was still uncertain as to whether she would write a book based on jury service, but added "if I was going to write a book this (being called to testify) would definitely be a chapter in it."
During the course of Special Public Defender Alzora Jackson's intense questioning of Carpenter, Gates offered a moment of comic relief as with a sheepish grin he asked Carpenter, "Do you think a book like that is going to sell, on the jury process?"
Carpenter responded saying "I think there's a lot of books that (for me) aren't interesting to read but are interesting to others."
Jackson said she based the allegations on interviews of the jurors her investigator conducted after they sentenced Johnson to death. She was confident the issues raised at the hearing would be "quite significant on review" during the appellate process.
For victim Tracey Gorringe's mother, Sandy Viau, the day served as yet another reminder of how slow the justice system can often work and she expressed sympathy for Carpenter being forced to testify.
"I felt really bad for the juror," Viau said. "You go through the process and do your job and then you're questioned on the witness stand, I really feel bad for her."
Viau and rest of the victims' families will be forced to relive the murders again at the Sept. 12 retrial of Johnson's previously convicted accomplice, Terrell Young.
The Nevada Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Young because during Young's initial trial, which resulted in a life sentence without parole, District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski failed to properly deal with Young's contention that there was animosity and a lack of communication between Young and his court-appointed lawyer, Lew Wolfbrandt, in 1999.
A third accomplice, 23-year-old Sikia Smith, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for his role in the killings.
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