BETHEL – A Bethel Superior Court jury considering a fraud case against tobacco company Philip Morris USA didn't reach a verdict in its first day of deliberations and was sent home Thursday afternoon for the long weekend.
Jurors will return Monday morning to consider allegations of fraud and conspiracy brought by Dolores Hunter on behalf of the estate of her late common-law husband Benjamin Francis. They had a life together in the Yukon River village of Marshall before he died of lung cancer in 2004. He was 52 and they had a young son.
Earlier on Thursday, one juror revealed she had read a news story about the trial. Visiting Judge Eric Smith excused her from the case. An alternate juror who had been let go Wednesday afternoon was brought back in to deliberate.
Jurors were advised not to read about the case and not to discuss it.