A juror in the trial of three reputed members of Chicago’s violent Goonie gang was dismissed on the fourth day of deliberations Wednesday after she apparently revealed to fellow members of the panel in an “emotional moment” that she lived near the gang’s territory and had been affected by gun violence in the past.
After dismissing the woman Wednesday morning, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey called in one of the alternate jurors, and deliberations were to begin anew at 1 p.m.
The issue came to light shortly after the jury returned for a fourth day of discussions at 9:30 a.m. The judge read aloud a note from the panel saying, “A fellow juror yesterday had an emotional moment during which time they admitted to everyone they live bordering Goonie territory.”
The note went on to say the juror revealed they’d dealt “with gangs shooting at them and their daughter years ago” and that recently, a gang member who lives down the block had his “house shot up.”
The note said “a bunch of us” were worried their fellow juror either lied during questioning or “thought they could put their emotions aside but clearly can’t,” and that she might be “traumatized further.”
The juror, a Black woman who appeared to be in her 60s, was called into court and asked by the judge about her experiences and whether it would impact her ability to stay on the jury. “Absolutely not,” she said.
Outside the woman’s presence, Blakey recalled that the woman had denied during jury selection having any previous experiences with gang activity. Both sides then agreed to dismiss her.
The jury began deliberating the main racketeering charge in the indictment on Thursday, after hearing more than eight hours of closing arguments over two days. But according to the rules of trial, they will have to start fresh with the new juror Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the panel has not been told that if they come back with a guilty verdict against any of the three defendants, they’re not done. Instead, the attorneys will argue who is responsible for each of the 10 charged murders contained in the indictment, followed by more deliberations.
The racketeering charge carries up to 20 years in prison, while the additional charges of murder in the aid of racketeering bring a mandatory life sentence.
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On trial are reputed Goonie leader Romeo “O-Dog” Blackman and two alleged henchmen, Terrance “T” Smith and Jolicious “Jo Jo” Turman. In all, the indictment alleged the Goonies were responsible for 10 slayings and six attempted murders in an 18-month span from 2014 to 2016.
Prosecutors say the Goonie gang, a close-knit faction of the Gangster Disciples, acted as “urban hunters,” terrorizing residents and ruling territory in the Englewood neighborhood through unrelenting waves of gun violence.
Over five weeks of testimony, jurors have watched killings play out on surveillance video, saw social media posts where Goonie members allegedly kept a tally of victims and “rejoiced” in the death of rivals, and heard testimony from a parade of cooperating witnesses who described each member’s alleged role in the organization.
Lawyers for the defendants, meanwhile, say the government’s evidence on the specific shootings was thin, lacking in forensic corroboration, and based in large part on cooperating witnesses who testified against their fellow gang members in exchange for leniency or even immunity from prosecution.
Attorney Christopher Grohman, who represents Blackman, called it a “tough case” that was riddled with reasonable doubt, not because Blackman and his co-defendants are great guys, but because the evidence of a criminal enterprise — which prosecutors have to prove existed in order to sustain a racketeering conviction — was simply not there.
“I think the evidence is frankly overwhelming that Romeo was in a gang, that he had guns, that he was out there probably shooting at people and telling other people to shoot,” Grohman said. “But he’s not charged with that.”
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
