Jury is quiet, but Judge Olmedo confirms a hearing about discovery leak is in the works

Day 20 (Day 16 since testimony began, Day 2 of deliberations) at the Danny Masterson retrial

And so we continue to wait.

We've been sitting in the back row of a very empty courtroom. Just two other reporters are with us this morning (from City News Service and the Daily Mail), and the only other warm bodies in the room are the clerk and bailiff.

The morning has gone by without the sound of the buzzer from the jury room. Whatever they're doing back there so far, they have no questions for the court or requests for readback.

The jury in the first trial had questions on both of its first two days, but nothing so far from this one.

Judge Olmedo did come out briefly and said hello to us, and we took the opportunity to ask about that evidentiary hearing regarding the leak of the DA's discovery materials.

She said that her clerk was just then reaching out to the attorneys to set up a date that works for all of them.

We'll follow up with the clerk to find out when that might be.

If you're unsure what we're referring to, we're talking about the stunning revelation by Deputy DA Reinhold Mueller last week that an email from Scientology attorney Vicki Podberesky contained a link which led to folders full of redacted discovery materials the DA had earlier turned over to the defense: Large amounts of emails, text messages, police reports, and photographs that the DA by law had to share with Masterson's criminal defense team.

But what was it doing in the possession of a Scientology attorney, when Scientology is not a party to the case?

Mueller called it "extremely troubling" and Judge Olmedo also seemed determined to get to the bottom of it. She asked defense attorney Philip Cohen if he was sharing information with Scientology, and he denied it.

Later, defense attorney Shawn Holley seemed to suggest that the sharing of the discovery material had been done by their predecessors, and with the civil lawsuit in mind.

Does that mean that Masterson's previous lawyers, Tom Mesereau and Sharon Appelbaum, will have to come in and explain how the documents were shared with the church?

We're pretty anxious to find out, and it's interesting to hear this morning from Judge Olmedo that she is working towards making that hearing happen.

OK, so we're off to lunch while the jury dines in the jury room.

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