Posted 2/11/2009 05:42:00 PM by Douglas

I love it when life imitates Law & Order.

The Harris County jury returned a guilty verdict after deliberating 45 minutes in a murder case, but the judge realized he had a real problem. Sitting in the jury box were 13 citizens.

Instead of sentencing Charles Mapps to prison in the shooting death of his girlfriend, state District Judge Mark Kent Ellis on Tuesday declared a mistrial. An extra juror was allowed to deliberate.

Ellis said a criminal jury must have 12 people on it and can’t have any outside influences. He said the 13th juror would be considered an outside influence, despite the fact that she sat through all of the testimony.

“In 23 years I’ve never seen anything like this,” the judge said. “The jurors all seemed pretty upset, but there’s no way to unring that bell.”

The lone GOP criminal judge to win re-election in November, Ellis placed the blame squarely on a substitute bailiff, whose name he didn’t know. His regular bailiff was sick.

“I told him I never want to see him in my courtroom again,” Ellis said.

Even worse? If that bailiff comes back to his courtroom. . . as a defendant. Ouch.