Another juror in Orange Taylor III case speaks: He's Guilty

The battle of the jurors has now come to the fore around town as one juror, Lauretta Codrington, spoke with media last night and said basically while she could not find Taylor innocent, she could just not find him guilty. YCD understands WHAT Codrington was saying although one can NEVER be found innocent in any court proceeding, simply 'not guilty'.

Today another juror, EMU student Mary Bruhnsen came forward in response to Codrington and said she had no problems finding Taylor guilty of first degree murder, along with five other jurors. In an interview with the Ann Arbor News (who really has been doing an excellent job covering this case), Bruhnsen said that the video evidence of Orange Taylor III leaving Laura Dickinson's dorm and the fact he had her keys and locked up after himself "It all connected the dots for me and really just wrapped it up, It couldn't have been anybody else, and she didn't die of a heart condition."

Bruhnsen said the jury had difficulty agreeing on which charge to find him guilty of if any at all. She said several jurors discussed the manslaughter verdict but never committed to it. She went on to say the jurors took several votes with varying degrees of agreement.

On a postitive note Bruhnsen said race never played any part in the jury room. "I thought everyone was pretty open-minded," she said. "Nobody brought any baggage into it."

YCD would like to applaud the jury for not letting race become a factor in this case where in other parts of the country it might well have. You can agree or disagree with the outcome of this trial but it is apparent the jurors took their charge very seriously and were as fair as the day is long. Hats off to them for looking past an obvious roadblock to the justice system.