The defence team for the British au pair accused of killing a baby appeared yesterday to be concerned at the time jurors were taking to deliver a verdict. With the jury deciding the fate of Ms Louise Woodward still out after about 8 1/2 hours of deliberations, defence lawyer Mr Barry Scheck argued that it should be given additional instructions.
But Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Hiller Zobel denied the motion.
Mr Scheck, who gained fame as part of Mr O.J.Simpson's "dream team" of lawyers, asked the judge to give instructions making it "explicitly" clear that the jury must acquit if the state had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the injuries to nine-month-old Matthew Eappen happened on February 4th.
The defence had argued the head injuries had actually occurred weeks earlier, and that a spontaneous re-bleed on February 4th brought about the baby's death.
The jury can return one of three verdicts in the case of the 19-year-old from Chester - guilty of first or second-degree murder, or acquittal.
"The fact that the jury has not reached a verdict by this time is of no surprise to anyone," Judge Zobel told Mr Scheck, pointing out the jury had 116 exhibits and the testimony of 37 witnesses to consider.
The jury has been deliberating for two days.
Prosecutors tried to portray Ms Woodward, who has been in custody since February, as a frustrated teenager more interested in Boston's nightlife than in taking care of a colicky and cranky baby and his 2 1/2-year-old sibling.
They claim she violently shook Matthew and then slammed his head against a hard surface. The baby was rushed to Boston Children's Hospital and died five days later as a result of massive head injuries.
The wait for a verdict has proved a strain on both sides.
The baby's aunt, Ms Susan Eappen, said on ABC-TV's Good Morning America, "We're very hopeful that there will be justice in this and the jury will be able to see through the games and the untruths the defence has put out there.
"I think the prosecution has put forth the facts and we're hoping that the jury will hear those facts and find her guilty." The 17-storey courthouse in an industrial area of Cambridge, across the Charles River from Boston, has been divided.
When not in the courtroom, Matthew's parents, Drs Deborah and Sunil Eappen, spend the time in the district attorney's office on the second floor. Just yards away Ms Woodward's parents, Susan and Gary, huddle over coffee in the cafeteria.
"Five and a half hours . . . I don't know what it means, I've no idea," said Mrs Woodward.
In court they sit on the far right side, flanked by Mr Jim Poston, the British consul general, and his sympathetic staff. Various American friends are also there.
"I want to say that as everything is in God's hands, I am praying for you," said a stranger, squeezing Mrs Woodward's hand.
"I bet you've never been hugged so much in your life, Gary," joked Mr Poston grimly.
"I'm covered in lipstick," Mr Woodward replied.
They talk briefly about their three-weekly visits to see their daughter, now back at Framingham jail, after several uncomfortable nights at a local police cell with no facilities for women or minors.
"There is no touching, she's in one room and we have to talk to her through the glass," said her mother flatly. Was it difficult?
"Yes, but you have to think of Louise," she said.
A supporter picked up the morning's paper and without thinking read the headline out loud. "Oh God," she exclaimed. "Massachusetts have voted to bring back the death penalty."
The vote was taken the previous night (Tuesday) as Ms Woodward was transferred from court to jail. It was a close thing, 81 votes to 79. Everyone shuddered.