The replaying of testimony from both Sheldon and Gerald Stanley dominated the second day of the jury deliberations in the Gerald Stanley murder trial.
The testimony has now been reviewed and the jury is back in the jury room for deliberations.
The previous night, jury had requested replaying portions of the testimony from the time Sheldon had come out of the house, and from the time Gerald fired his first shot on.
The decision was made to replay the entire testimony and that continued throughout the morning and into the noon hour.
Court adjourned for a lunch break until 1:45 p.m. at which time the replaying of testimony will resume, picking it up with Crown prosecutor Bill Burge’s cross examination of Stanley. The replaying is not expected to wrap up until well into the afternoon.
The jury was sequestered shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon having been charged by Chief Justice Martel Popescul with finding one of three options: not guilty, not guilty of second-degree murder but guilty of manslaughter, and guilty of second degree murder.
With the exception of a dinner break, their deliberations continued uneventfully behind closed doors until 8:18 p.m., when counsel hastily reassembled in the courtroom upon word that the jury had a question.
According to Justice Popescul, it turned out the question was more of a request. The jury wanted to rehear Sheldon Stanley’s testimony from when he came out of the house. The jury also wanted to hear Gerald Stanley’s testimony from where he fired the first shot and on.
Discussion then ensued between Popescul and counsel about whether to isolate the testimony from both the main exam and the cross-examinations, or whether to replay the entire testimony from both witnesses.
After a 10-minute break, and after some discussion among lawyers for both sides, it was decided to replay the entire testimony from the two individuals.
The jury was called back in, with Popescul giving them the option of continuing on by listening to Sheldon’s hour-plus of testimony, or of resuming at 9 a.m. the next day.
Soon after, word came back that the jury had decided to break for the night.
