WRCBtv.com | Chattanooga News, Weather & SportsJudge Considers Mistrial Over "Racist" Comments
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CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) - A majority of jurors at East Tennessee's first federal death penalty trial told the judge privately they have heard about a prosecutor saying the black defendant described them as "racist rednecks."
Attorneys for 24-year-old Rejon Taylor asked U.S. District Judge Curtis L. Collier to declare a mistrial and appoint a new jury for the sentencing phase of the trial that is set to start Monday.
Collier said at a Thursday hearing that "obviously we are in something of a hole here." He did not immediately issue a ruling.
The predominantly white jury on Sept. 8 convicted Taylor in the August 2003 abduction and slaying of Atlanta restaurant owner Guy Luck on a rural roadside near Chattanooga.
Defense attorney Leslie Cory asked the judge to either declare a mistrial or set a special hearing on the 11 jurors saying they have been exposed to media reports.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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