A county attorney wants to reconvene and question jurors over concerns that the jury forewoman hugged a man acquitted of negligent homicide.
The jury in Lancaster, New Hampshire acquitted Randy Baillargeon, 34, on September 22 on charges such as negligent homicide involving the 2016 death of Berlin resident Kristen Black.
Police said Baillargeon drove erratically as Black, 34, clung to the outside of his truck, causing her to fall or jump off the vehicle and die of a head injury.
Now four members of the jury have come forward to say that they saw the jury forewoman stop her car in the courthouse parking lot and hug Baillargeon and his family members immediately following the trial.
Randy Baillargeon, 34, was acquitted of negligent homicide on September 22. Now the prosecutor says that the jury forewoman hugging him after the trial raises issues
Kristen Black, 34, died in August 2016. Police say she was hanging off the outside of Baillargeon’s pickup truck and fell while he drove erratically
‘She then got out of her car, walked quickly to the defendant and his family. As she neared them, she opened her arms, as if to hug someone. She then hugged the defendant, his mother, and a man that I am guessing is his father,’ one juror wrote in a statement.
Coos County Attorney John McCormick said in a motion that the hug created a ‘spectacle’ and said it shows the jury could have been tainted or biased, the Union Leader reported.
He has asked the judge to reconvene the jury and question the jurors over the incident.
Baillargeon’s attorney is fighting McCormick’s motion and said it’s based on pure speculation.
According to the defense attorney, the forewoman did not know Baillargeon or his family before the trial, and the hug had no significance or bearing on the verdict.
‘The state’s motion is based purely on speculation involving any misconduct,’ the defense motion read, according to WMUR.
After a trial that lasted three and a half days, Baillargeon was acquitted after jury deliberations that lasted just over two hours.
The scene where Black was fatally thrown from the vehicle in August 2016 is seen