Friday, February 16, 2001

Cramm trial juror dismissed

Woman posted comments on Web site referring to case and asking for prayers

By SCOTT NORTH

Herald Writer

A murder trial that has focused on bullets, blood and bad decisions turned to computers Thursday after prosecutors discovered a juror had posted messages about the case on an Internet bulletin board for people who enjoy cross-stitch embroidery.

The juror was dismissed from the Dennis Cramm trial after the discovery was brought to the attention of Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Linda Krese.

The woman's posts were discovered Wednesday evening by a friend of deputy prosecutor Ed Stemler.

Deputy prosecutor John Adcock said he'd never before lost a juror to improper use of the Internet.

"This is a first for me," he said. "The judge was instructing them every time they left the courtroom not to talk to anybody. That could have caused a mistrial. If we hadn't had any alternates (on the jury), we'd be done today. That was clear misconduct."

Cramm, 18, went on trial Monday for the May 30 shooting deaths of Jesse Stoner and Jason Thompson, both 18 at the time. The pair died when a prearranged fistfight outside the Cramm home escalated into deadly gunfire.

Cramm is claiming self-defense.

Krese had instructed jurors to avoid news reports and to not discuss the case among themselves or with anyone else.

Early Tuesday morning, the juror posted a message on the 1-2-3 Stitch Web site (www.123stitch.com), which features products and information for people who enjoy embroidery. The woman wrote she had been chosen to serve on a jury, and asked others who share her hobby for support and prayers.

"My mixed emotions come from the fact that the accused is an 18-year-old who supposedly killed two other 18-year-olds," she wrote. "I guess I really need your prayers (for me and the rest of the jury) to help us make the correct decision."

Several people responded to the message, including one person who said she recognized the case from the juror's description, and offered an opinion about Dennis Cramm's family life.

The juror posted another message early Wednesday morning.

"Thanks to everyone for their wonderful words of support," she wrote. "Didn't cry until reading them! Wanted to cry this morning, listening to two of the kids who were in the car with the victims. ... God, if only those kids could have made the 'right' decision!!!"

Many of the roughly 30 messages to the juror politely advised her about the legal reasons for not discussing the case.

The woman posted more messages late Wednesday, however, detailing the trial schedule and remarking that she enjoyed how people in the courtroom were required to stand when she and other jurors entered or left the room.

"Oh, one more thing," she wrote. "The WORST part of all of this is that I can't bring my stitching with me. No scissors or anything that even thinks it's a blade!! So unless I feel like using my teeth to cut floss, I'm out of luck. Boo hoo!!!"

When alerted to the woman's posts, Stemler printed out the messages and brought them to the judge's attention before the trial resumed Thursday morning.

The juror was angered by her dismissal. By early afternoon she'd posted another message saying that she'd been betrayed when she had been "looking for emotional support during a difficult time."

"I still think it was unfair to be kicked off the jury, as I didn't relate any details or give any indication as to where I'm at," she wrote.

The Web site removed the woman's posts early Thursday afternoon.

The remaining jurors in Cramm's case spent the day hearing more about the numerous military-style weapons that were found at the home that night.

They also heard from a former Cramm housemate, John Jauregui, 25, who claimed the defendant asked him "if he should feel bad for killing those kids."

He also alleged Cramm had told him he'd watched the victims' "heads pop like watermelons" when Cramm fired an SKS semiautomatic rifle into the car carrying Stoner and Thompson.

Jauregui outlined the preparations for the fight and the ensuing gun battle.

He testified that he and several other young males set out clubs, some with nails driven in them, and placed other weapons outside the south Everett home they shared with Dennis Cramm and his father, Dale Cramm, 45.

Jauregui described how Dale Cramm directed young participants to station themselves around the perimeter of the home with SKS and AK-47 rifles, and how they set about loading banana-style magazines with ammunition.

Jauregui said he was armed with two pistols stuffed in his waistband when carloads of young people showed up to watch a fight between Dennis Cramm, who was then 17, and a 16-year-old from south Snohomish County.

Jauregui said he was disarmed when the fighting spread to others, and somebody fired a pistol in the air. Within seconds, Dennis Cramm was firing one of the SKS rifles and Jauregui said he was shooting an AK-47, primarily into the air. He did acknowledge exchanging gunfire with one man.

Jauregui told jurors he agreed to testify in exchange for being allowed to plead guilty to a single charge of felony riot. He expects to spend less than a year in work release.

Dennis Cramm may face up to 40 years if convicted of the killings.