CASPER, WY—After 2 long weeks of trial proceedings for defendant Terrence Rich, 32, all present in the courtroom were emotionally spent. It was a particularly difficult case to hear, given the extent of the injuries sustained by the victim in the alleged kidnapping and murder, as well as the horrifying details that were brought to light by the medical examiner's testimony, and the apparent total lack of remorse expressed by Rich.
"I think it's safe to say that I was traumatized by day 3," shared Juror #4. "I'll never get those images [of the autopsy] out of my mind."
With tensions high and minds exhausted, the attorneys gave their closing arguments, and then the judge read the jury instructions before they were led to the deliberation room to begin what would become 4 hours of discussion about the case.
"It's a strange feeling to walk into a room with 11 strangers and work together to decide the fate of another person," related Juror #7, who had served on a jury once before in a burglary case. "I'm glad that [the foreman] was the first one to speak."
The jurors explained that, once they all sat in the deliberation room, they looked around a little at each other in silence for a moment, seeming to let the trial's details settle a little before dissecting them.
"At first, nobody spoke. It was just nice to not have our own thoughts for a second," explained Juror #4. "I'd cried several times as I was going to sleep at nights during the trial, but you can't talk to anyone about it."
"I stopped believing in God during this trial," admitted Juror #11.
After a few seconds of silence, the jury foreman felt compelled to begin the deliberations. The man who appears to be in his early 40s took a deep breath, looked solemnly around the table at the others who would decide the outcome of the case with him, and then said, "Well, it's nothing I haven't done to my ex-wife, so let's let him go!"
The reactions from the other 11 people present in the room were mixed.
Juror #4 was nonplussed. "I feel like I took a full minute to process what had just come out of his mouth. It was horrifying!"
In contrast, Juror #2 found the attempt at humor helpful. "I smiled, I'll admit. It was a rough couple of weeks, come on!"
Juror #9 protested the comment openly, "How can you joke about a thing like this?" An argument reportedly ensued about whether the joke was appropriate, with approximately half of the jurors finding it in poor taste and the other half appreciating it.
The deliberation over the appropriateness of the joke continued for about 3 hours and 45 minutes before the jurors decided that they would never agree.
They then spent 15 minutes agreeing that Rich was guilty on all counts.