IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE WESTERN DIVISION ------------------------------------------------------- UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) VS. ) NO. 03-20111-Ml ) ) VERNICE KUGLIN, ) ) Defendant. ) ------------------------------------------------------- TRIAL PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE HONORABLE JON PHIPPS MCCALLA, JUDGE AUGUST 8, 2003 VOLUME V BRENDA PARKER OFFICIAL REPORTER SUITE 942 FEDERAL BUILDING 167 NORTH MAIN STREET MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE 38103 769 A P P E A R A N C E S Appearing on behalf of the Plaintiff: TERRELL L. HARRIS, ESQ. UNITED STATES ATTORNEY SUITE 800 FEDERAL BUILDING 167 NORTH MAIN STREET MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE 38103 By: JOSEPH MURPHY, ESQ. Appearing on behalf of the Defendant: LOWELL H. BECRAFT, JR. 209 LINCOLN STREET HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA 35801 ROBERT G. BERNHOFT, ESQ. 207 EAST BUFFALO STREET MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN 53202 770 1 FRIDAY MORNING & AFTERNOON 2 AUGUST 8, 2003 3 The trial in this case resumed on this date, 4 Friday, August 8, 2003, at 2:00 o'clock p.m., when and 5 where proceedings were had as follows: 6 7 ____________ 8 9 (The following proceedings were had at 2:00 10 p.m.) 11 THE COURT: All right. The procedure is that 12 we will have the jury come in, and the foreman in this 13 case is Mr. Schingle. We will ask him to bring the folder 14 to the stand, the podium closest to me, he will hand it to 15 Ms. Flagg, and she will hand it to me. I will look at it 16 to make sure it is signed and dated and filled in. If it 17 is signed and dated, then I will hand it back to Mr. 18 Schingle and have him read the verdict. The procedure is 19 that, of course, after that, after he reads the whole 20 verdict, then I will start with Ms. Vasser in seat one and 21 ask each person is it their verdict, and then if everybody 22 says it is, then it becomes the official verdict in the 23 case. I just remind everybody that whatever it is, and I 24 don't have any idea what it will be, I ask everybody not 25 to say anything, there isn't anything to say really at 771 1 this point in time, and we will take up any later matters, 2 if there are any to take up, as soon as I discharge the 3 jury. Okay. Bring them in. 4 (Jury in at 2:00 p.m.) 5 THE COURT: I will have the foreman come around 6 to the podium. Everybody have a seat. I'm going to 7 ask -- to this podium. 8 JUROR SCHINGLE: Oh, I'm sorry. 9 THE COURT: That's no problem. What you have 10 to do is, we're going to, in just a second, let you hand 11 the folder with the material to me first. I have to look 12 at it, make sure it is signed, dated and filled out. 13 Before we read anything, if something wasn't signed and 14 dated and filled out, I have to hand it back, so I have to 15 always check. 16 Everything is in order. I will hand it back 17 and, Mr. Schingle, I'm going to ask you to start with 18 Count 1 and just read them, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, and give 19 us your verdict on each one as you read the verdict form. 20 And then I'm start with Ms. Vasser in seat one, I will ask 21 each of you in order is this your verdict, because, of 22 course, the verdict does have to be unanimous. 23 JUROR SCHINGLE: Do I read it or just tell you? 24 THE COURT: I can do it like they do on 25 television too. Would you tell me what the verdict is on 772 1 Count 1? 2 JUROR SCHINGLE: Not guilty, Your Honor. 3 THE COURT: What is the verdict on Count 2? 4 JUROR SCHINGLE: Not guilty, Your Honor. 5 THE COURT: What is the verdict on Count 3? 6 JUROR SCHINGLE: Not guilty. 7 THE COURT: And what the verdict on Count 4? 8 JUROR SCHINGLE: Not guilty, Your Honor. 9 THE COURT: The verdict on Count 5? 10 JUROR SCHINGLE: Not guilty, Your Honor. 11 THE COURT: And the verdict on Count 6? 12 JUROR SCHINGLE: Not guilty, Your Honor. 13 THE COURT: Let me ask you as foreman and also 14 in your individual juror capacity, do you agree with the 15 verdict? 16 JUROR SCHINGLE: Yes, I do. 17 THE COURT: Let me ask Ms. Vasser, is this also 18 your verdict? 19 JUROR VASSER: Yes. 20 THE COURT: And Mr. Vetter, is it also your 21 verdict? 22 JUROR VETTER: Yes. 23 THE COURT: Ms. Snodgrass, is it your verdict? 24 JUROR SNODGRASS: Yes, it is. 25 THE COURT: Mr. Stovall, is it your verdict? 773 1 JUROR STOVALL: Yes. 2 THE COURT: And Mr. Smith -- and there are 3 several Mr. Smiths, so I better say Mr. Alphonso Smith? 4 JUROR ALPHONSO SMITH: Yes, sir. 5 THE COURT: Mr. Keith Smith? 6 JUROR KEITH SMITH: Yes, sir. 7 THE COURT: Mr. Shaneyfelt? 8 JUROR SHANEYFELT: Yes. 9 THE COURT: Ms. Stidham? 10 JUROR STIDHAM: Yes. 11 THE COURT: Mr. Inderbitzen? 12 JUROR INDERBITZEN: Yes, it is. 13 THE COURT: And Ms. Stout? 14 JUROR STOUT: Yes, Your Honor. 15 THE COURT: And Mr. Simpson? 16 JUROR SIMPSON: Yes. 17 THE COURT: All right. I'm going to ask you to 18 hand the -- well, you have handed the folder, I'm going to 19 let you go back to your seat then, and hand the folder to 20 Ms. Flagg, it does become the official verdict in the 21 case, and it is recorded, so it will conclude all matters 22 in the case. 23 I need to tell you a couple of things. First 24 of all, in just a second, I'm going to discharge you as 25 jurors in the case. And at that time, you can talk with 774 1 anybody you would like to about the case. There's one 2 rule, and that is that the lawyers and the parties can't 3 really quiz you about the verdict. You can speak to them, 4 you can tell them about the verdict if you want to, and 5 you may be interested in talking to them, that's fine, 6 there's nothing wrong with that, but they're not going to 7 ask you a lot of questions because the jury deliberations 8 are not something that they are allowed to inquire into, 9 so, you know, they might ask you, you know, what was it 10 like to serve on a jury, but that's about it. So I need 11 to let you know that that is the reason they won't be 12 asking you. If you do speak to them, they won't be asking 13 you any questions at all. 14 The next thing is that we want you to encourage 15 other people to serve on juries. We have a lot of folks 16 who try not to, and we just want you to please tell people 17 not to. And the third thing is that I want to thank you 18 for serving on the panel. It turned out to be about the 19 length we projected, it doesn't always work out that way, 20 so I feel pretty good about this case in terms of the 21 length, but we do appreciate each of you being able to 22 serve on the jury. 23 So what I'm going to do in just a second is I'm 24 going to discharge you, let you go to the jury room. I'm 25 going to let the parties here be excused, and then if you 775 1 want to speak to them after you have gone to the jury 2 room, then Mr. Tuggle will open the door after I've left, 3 and then you can either come back in here or you can leave 4 and go out the other door, whichever way you want to go. 5 Again, you're not obligated to speak to anybody at all. 6 Don't feel like you have to. Again, thank you very much 7 for serving on the jury, and at this time, ladies and 8 gentlemen, you are discharged in the case and you are 9 excused. Thank you very much. 10 (Jury out at 2:05 a.m) 11 THE COURT: There is one thing I need to tell 12 the parties about and then we will be concluded. And I 13 didn't tell the parties this morning about this, frankly, 14 because the jury had begun deliberations -- you can have a 15 seat just for a second. I frankly don't attribute 16 anything to this, but if somebody tells me something, I 17 need to convey it to you. And that is that last evening 18 about 5:30 or so, I think it was Ms. Pigues and perhaps 19 Mr. Tuggle did come in and say that the jurors, as they 20 were leaving in the basement area, I think somebody was 21 taking their photographs, and I don't really attribute 22 much to that. I think they did ask perhaps someone who 23 was a member of the audience to take pictures, maybe the 24 alternates may have, I don't know, is that what happened? 25 I have got my two alternates here. Is that all that 776 1 happened? 2 UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yes. 3 THE COURT: I have got my two alternates here, 4 I thought I would just say that while you were here. 5 That's all, you just wanted to get a picture with 6 everybody, is that right? 7 UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yes, sir. 8 That's what I understood that happened, I 9 didn't attribute any particular significance to that. 10 Who took your picture? 11 UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: It was just -- 12 UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: I did, Your Honor. 13 THE COURT: That's okay. But there wasn't any 14 big deal about it. That's a little unusual. It's nothing 15 wrong with it in the least, but if somebody comes and 16 tells me about something, I just have to tell these guys, 17 that's the way it works. So anything else from the United 18 States? 19 MR. MURPHY: Just one thing, to put Ms. Kuglin 20 on notice, she has got to pay taxes, I think the court 21 ought to instruct her that that is the law. She has got 22 to file returns and -- 23 MR. BECRAFT: Your Honor, that is going to be 24 cleaned up totally. 25 THE COURT: Okay. Well, Mr. Murphy is not 777 1 incorrect that it is the law, and I think what he's also 2 saying is there will still be civil penalties. 3 MR. BECRAFT: I expect probably 90-day letters 4 to be coming pretty quick. 5 THE COURT: Okay. 6 MR. BECRAFT: And there's going to be civil 7 proceedings, and she is going to being take 8 responsibility -- she is going to be doing things to 9 respond to all of that like file returns, Your Honor. 10 THE COURT: Well, I'm just the judge here, I'm 11 not the IRS, so I think I'll leave that up to the other 12 folks. Anything -- I asked the government. Anything from 13 the defense? 14 MR. BECRAFT: Your Honor, I think on behalf of 15 all the lawyers, I would like to say that it has been a 16 pleasure to be in your court. 17 THE COURT: Well, thank you. We're going to 18 let everybody be excused. 19 MR. MURPHY: Thank you, Judge. 20 MR. BECRAFT: Thank you, Your Honor. 21 MR. BERNHOFT: Thank you. 22 THE CLERK: All rise, please. This Honorable 23 United States District Court now stands adjourned. 24 (Court adjourned at 2:15 p.m.) 25 778 C E R T I F I C A T E I, Brenda Parker, do hereby certify that the foregoing pages 1-778 are, to the best of my knowledge, skill and ability, a true and accurate transcript from my stenotype notes of the trial on August 4-8, 2003, in the matter of: United States of America vs. Vernice B. Kuglin Dated this 26th day of September, 2003. _______________________________ BRENDA PARKER Official Court Reporter United States District Court Western District of Tennessee