This is all on Judge James Zagel. His court didn’t properly vet the jurors in the trial of power broker William Cellini, and after he was convicted the Tribune reported that one of the jurors had hidden two felony convictions—for illegal possession and for driving drunk without a license.
Naturally, Cellini’s lawyers asked for a mistrial. And Zagel said, not so fast. It’s not enough that she hid her record. To argue that the verdict’s tainted, you need to show that she may have been harboring a bias against your client.