Tyco Juror Transcripts Unsealed

By: Samuel Maull, Associated Press Writer (AP) The juror who received a menacing telephone call and letter during the trial of two former Tyco International executives told the judge she was "very, very scared," prompting him to declare a mistrial, according to court transcripts released Wednesday.

Ruth Jordan, known as Juror No. 4 during the Tyco corporate looting trial, conceded her fear and distress during meetings in state Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus' chambers.

Obus unsealed transcripts of those meetings after a request from nine media organizations, including The Associated Press.

On Friday, the day Obus declared a mistrial, Jordan entered his robing room and -- without a greeting -- told him and lawyers in the case: "I am alarmed."

Obus then tried to calm her, according to the transcripts. He inquired about a letter she had received the previous evening and whether she believed she could continue to deliberate.

Jordan replied, "I am so frightened about everything, and this says to me that there are people out there that think I am somehow very, very wrong and bad, and done something terrible, and that they are blaming me, and it scares me so. I don't know."

Jordan, 79, was referring to the uproar she caused during deliberations when she made a hand motion that she later said was misinterpreted by some reporters as an "OK" sign to the defense.

Obus declared a mistrial during deliberations in the trial of L. Dennis Kozlowski, 57, Tyco's former chief executive, and Mark H. Swartz, 43, the company's former chief financial officer, who were accused of looting Tyco of $600 million.

Kozlowski and Swartz were charged with grand larceny, falsifying business records, conspiracy and securities fraud. Prosecutors said they hid unauthorized bonuses and secretly forgave loans to themselves.

Defense lawyers said that the two earned everything they received and that the board of directors and auditors knew about all their compensation and never objected.

Notes from the panel during deliberations said the atmosphere in the jury room had turned "poisonous" and one juror, later admittedly Jordan, was refusing to discuss the case with the others. She later said she planned to vote to acquit on all counts.

During the meeting last Friday, Obus recalled that in a previous meeting, on March 29, that Jordan had told him her son and daughter were concerned about her. He asked whether their concern was affecting her ability to deliberate the case properly.

Following an exchange immediately afterward that was redacted from the transcript, Jordan told the judge:

"I do feel a concern that my life is permanently changed and that there is going to be, I'm going to look like some kind of pariah, and in some people's minds for the rest of my life, some people will give me credit and good faith, but a lot of people won't."

She continued: "But I think there is news out there and it is about me, and it is bad, and I'll feel, it will bother, I mean -- would it affect my children? I don't know."

Jordan said she also worried about not being true to her principles, but "I do feel very, very scared."

It was in the earlier meeting that Jordan told Obus she received a call in which a man asked, "How much is the Kozlowski team paying you?" She said she told the caller she didn't know what he was talking about and hung up.

Obus has ordered Kozlowski and Swartz to return to court May 7, when a tentative retrial date is expected to be set.

Besides the AP, the news organizations that sought release of the transcripts were The New York Times, Newsday, Forbes, NBC, Dow Jones & Co., The Washington Post, Reuters Group PLC and Bloomberg LP.