A juror in the trial of former Beaverton police Officer Christopher Warren has come forward to report that some of his fellow jurors may have had outside knowledge about the case.
The 12-member jury found Warren guilty Friday of first-degree child rape after a four-day trial in Clark County Superior Court and about 6 1/2 hours of deliberation.
He raped a 5-year-old girl with a pencil, said Senior Deputy Prosecutor Camara Banfield.
“I have reason to believe that some jurors selected for the trial of Chris Warren either had significant prior knowledge of the case or investigated the case during the trial, either of which would seem to be directly against the court’s wishes and instructions,” Juror No. 6 Craig Bowen wrote in an email to The Columbian on Monday.
Bowen initially said he planned to speak to The Columbian in more detail about his information but held off Monday after receiving instruction from the court not to make further statements until a hearing could be scheduled.
During court today, Judge Robert Lewis scheduled a Thursday hearing in front of Judge Barbara Johnson to discuss the matter. Johnson presided over Warren’s trial.
Warren’s attorney, Louis Byrd Jr., complained today that he has not been allowed to interview the juror to date, and he requested that the juror’s Saturday voice mail to the court be made part of the public record.
Lewis said that decision would be left up to Judge Johnson, who reportedly was out of the office today.
“With the significance of the issue, I’ve never heard of counsel being denied the opportunity to speak with jurors,” Byrd said.
“I can only tell you what I’m aware of, and I’m aware of very little because this is not my case,” Lewis replied.
Lewis, however, granted Byrd’s request to extend the deadline to file a motion for mistrial. Under court rules, the deadline is 10 days from the end of the trial, but that can be extended with a memorandum from a judge, Byrd said.
Despite the extension, Byrd said he wants to resolve the matter as soon as possible.
“Mr. Warren is sitting in the jail,” Byrd said. “The sooner these matters are addressed, the better.”
Warren, 34, was taken into custody of the Clark County Jail minutes after the verdict was read on Friday. He had been free pending his trial.
Warren has not yet been sentenced because the attorneys in the case and the judge are waiting for a court-ordered presentence investigation report.
The victim, who is now 6, took the stand during the trial and testified that Warren inserted a pencil in her genital area.
During closing arguments, Byrd said that Warren’s ex-wife, Dina Sanchez, coached the little girl into making the allegations because she was bitter over Warren’s decision to divorce her and to be with another woman.
Paris Achen: 360-735-4551; twitter.com/Col_Courts; facebook.com/ColTrends; paris.achen@columbian.com.
