Attorney Aida Ferrer Leisenring confers with Calvin Harris outside of the Schoharie County Courthouse as the jury deliberates. (Photo by Wendy Post)
The second day of deliberations continued on Friday in the second-degree murder trial for Calvin Harris, the Tioga County car dealership owner charged in connection with the disappearance of his wife, Michele, in September 2001.
The jury began their deliberations on Thursday at noon, and were excused at 5 p.m. following instructions by the judge that members were not allowed to talk to anyone about the case, or do any investigating on their own to include searching blogs and social media sites.
On Friday, the jury arrived at 9:15 a.m., and by 9:30 a.m. their deliberations began once more.
To start, and after the court muddled through transcripts of testimony, the jury was in the courtroom for the re-read of babysitter Barbara Thayer’s testimony regarding events surrounding Sept. 12, 2001.
In particular, on Sept. 12, 2001 Barbara Thayer had testified that Michele Harris had an injury and bandage. Thayer also talked of how Calvin Harris wanted his glasses and watch cleaned, and about the clearing and cleanliness of the kitchen counter.
Originally, the jury had requested the Thayer testimony in its entirety, which would have been approximately three hours worth of testimony to read. But the jury, instead, requested just the events that centered on Sept. 12, 2001.
The court spent many hours on Thursday evening reviewing the pages of testimony to pull from this the testimony of Barbara Thayer relative to Sept. 12, 2001.
But this recanting of testimony did not come without the usual courtroom drama that has stalled the trial, now going into its 13th week.
The defense attorneys wanted to review the record before it was re-read to the jury, and noted exclusions from the testimony that the defense attorneys wanted in.
Schoharie County Judge George R. Bartlett told the defense that they argued about it already. The defense, said, “What arguments?”
With that, and on the heels of weeks of courtroom arguments – sometimes more arguments than jury presence, Judge Bartlett looked at the defense and said, “You don’t know what an argument is?”
This quip from the judge drew a bit of laughter from those who have been sitting in the courtroom, enduring weeks of arguments and testimony.
The defense, at some point in the morning, also moved for a mistrial because some of the arguments stricken from the record were erroneously read to the jury on Thursday. The judge denied the mistrial.
Some of the specific testimony the jury was interested in included the conversations between Calvin Harris and Barbara Thayer the morning of Sept. 12, 2001, and when they went to retrieve Michele Harris’ van from the end of the Harris’ Hagadorn Hill Road property in Spencer.
The jury also wanted the testimony read back from Thomas Turner regarding his testimony that Calvin Harris told him they found blood the size of a loaf of bread at his house.
During the read back of Thayer testimony, the defense asked the judge to excuse the jury, and then told the court that Barbara Thayer was giving non-verbal cues to the jury in that she was shaking her head and reacting emotionally as her prior testimony was being read.
“If it happens again,” said Barket, “I am going to ask to have her [Thayer] removed from the courtroom.
Before heading back into the deliberation area after the requested testimony was read, the jury was also given the photos they requested of Area M in the blood evidence. Area M, according to the defense, is where investigators found what testing revealed to be dog’s blood.
The jury also requested a copy of the charge that the judge gave them; but Judge Bartlett said he could not give them a copy, by law, but if they had a question they shouldn’t be afraid to ask.
As of 4:44 p.m., the jury was still in deliberations, and by 5 p.m. they were dismissed for the weekend. The jury will resume deliberations at 9:15 a.m. on Monday.
