Can the Danny Masterson jury figure things out today?

[Defense atty Philip Cohen, prosecutors Reinhold Mueller and Ariel Anson, and defendant Danny Masterson]

After a week off, the jury in the Danny Masterson trial will resume deliberations this morning, and we’ll be in court to bring you the results.

After two and a half days of deliberations, on November 18 the jury informed Judge Charlaine Olmedo that it was unable to find unanimous verdicts on all three counts of forcible rape that Masterson is facing. But Judge Olmedo said that the jury had not deliberated long enough to be declared deadlocked. Over objections by defense attorney Philip Cohen, she sent the jury home for the weeklong Thanksgiving break with plans to resume this morning.

On Tuesday, Law & Crime’s Meghann Cuniff published a very interesting piece about the legal history behind Judge Olmedo’s decision to encourage the jury to continue deliberating rather than to declare a mistrial. Known as the “Allen charge,” the law Judge Olmedo cited is commonly used in California but not in other states, Cuniff explained.

But will telling the jury to keep going result in verdicts? Experts we’ve consulted are telling us they think a deadlock and mistrial may be more likely at this point. And then it will be up the DA’s office whether to refile and have another trial, something that Cuniff characterized as “common” in her piece.

Well, either way, we’ll be in the courtroom this morning ready to bring you the news. Watch your inbox!

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Back in LA, thanks to you!

After a week in New York, we winged our way back to LA yesterday, thanks to the generous members of the Underground Bunker. We put out a video yesterday about that to everyone, and we’re linking to it again in case you missed it. And here’s also the version at our YouTube channel.

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