Juror says she was coerced into convicting Criner of UT student death

AUSTIN -- A juror in Meechaiel Criner’s capital murder trial says she was bullied by other jurors into finding the defendant guilty of capital murder in the strangulation of University of Texas student Haruka Weiser.

A sworn affidavit by juror Susana Lozano is the basis for a hearing on a motion for a new trial Wednesday afternoon in state District Judge David Wahlberg’s Travis County court. The hearing begins at 1:30 p.m.

Criner’s attorneys are relying on Lozano’s statements to argue Criner should get a second trial to prove he was not the person who attacked Weiser as she was walking down a dimly lighted path along Waller Creek on the UT campus in April 2016. Criner went to trial in July and was convicted of capital murder after the jury deliberated for nearly 11 hours. The conviction triggered an automatic life sentence with the possibility of parole.

Lozano said she does not believe the state proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt and that she changed her verdict “out of fear of and the behavior of the jury and what was told to me by the foreman.” The foreman, Kenny Rogers, violated his juror’s oath by researching facts about the case and the law and by encouraging participation from an alternate juror during deliberations, Lozano said. Alternate jurors were forbidden by the judge from joining jurors in deliberations.

Read more: https://www.statesman.com/news/crime--law/juror-says-she-was-coerced-into-convicting-criner-student-death/h39ebLbKkQwNYkra6Rp5WN/