VERDICT: Melanie McGuire Learns Her Fate — Court TV Archive

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: can we hold up for one second I did ladies and gentlemen I did want to just say to you before the jury comes out as you all understand this is a case in which the verdict must be announced as to eight different counts so it takes a little while I'm gonna ask that you please do not express your feelings of agreement or disagreement about the verdict or in any way engage in any type of behavior that would disrupt the jury's ability to announce the verdict if make sure your cell phones are off and if anybody says anything or expresses any type of opinion about the verdict I'm gonna have to ask the officers to ask you to leave the courtroom the jurors must be in a position to announce their verdict without interruption so please understand that I know that many of you here have very strong feelings about this case but I urge your cooperation to allow the jury to do its job okay all right mr. foreperson has the jury reached the verdict in this case yes sir please stand where has the jury reached the verdict in this case yes it is the verdict unanimous test to each count yes it is your honor right I'm gonna ask you then to follow along with the clerk of the court as she asked you to report the verdict and in the at the appropriate time please announce [00:01:26] Speaker 2: the jury's verdict mr. foreman how do you find us at the count of the indictment charging possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose between or about April 26 2004 and on or about May 5 2004 and the township of Woodbridge Middlesex County New Jersey how do you find us at the count of the indictment charging Melanie Maguire with the murder of William Maguire between on or about April 28 2004 and on or about May 5 2004 in the township of Woodbridge Middlesex County New Jersey how do you find us at the count of the indictment charging Melanie Maguire with desecrating human remains between on or about April 28 2004 and on or about May 5 2004 in the township of Woodbridge Middlesex County New Jersey elsewhere and within the jurisdiction of this court guilty how do you find us at the count of the indictment charging Melanie Maguire with perjury on or about April 30 2004 in the city of New Brunswick Middlesex County New Jersey guilty how do you find us at the count of the indictment charging Melanie Maguire with hindering prosecution on or about August 11 2005 in the city of Trenton Mercer County New Jersey not guilty how do you find us at the count of the indictment charging Melanie Maguire with hindering prosecution on or about October 9 2005 in the city of Passaic and in the city of Clifton Passaic County New Jersey and in the city of Trenton Mercer County New Jersey and in the city of Trenton Mercer County New Jersey and in the city of Trenton Mercer County New Jersey and in the city of Trenton Mercer County New Jersey and in the city of Trenton Mercer County New Jersey and in the city of Trenton Mercer County New Jersey and in the city of Trenton Mercer County New Jersey and in the city of Trenton Mercer County New Jersey and in the city of Trenton Mercer County New Jersey and in the city of Trenton Mercer County New Jersey. not guilty how do you find us at the count of the indictment charging Melanie Maguire with tampering with or fabricating physical evidence on or about October 11 2005 in the city of Passaic County of Passaic New Jersey and in the city of Trenton Mercer County New Jersey. not guilty how do you find us at the count of the indictment charging Melanie Maguire with possession of a controlled dangerous substance that is Xanax on or about October 9 2005 in the city of Passaic and the city of Clifton County of Passaic New Jersey. [00:03:31] Speaker 1: not guilty. all right thank you Mr for person have a seat please. all right ladies and gentlemen uh this time under our rules of court I am going to ask the clerk of the court to poll each of you and when your juror number is called if you agree with the verdict that has been reported by the foreperson then simply state I agree. uh at this time I'm going to ask for you to pay attention the clerk will poll each of you as to the verdict. as to the verdict. [00:04:10] Speaker 2: Jory number one. [00:04:11] Speaker 1: I agree. [00:04:12] Speaker 2: Jory number two. I agree. Jory number three. I agree. Jory number four. I agree. Jory number five. I agree. Jory number six. I agree. Jory number eight. [00:04:25] Speaker 3: I agree. [00:04:26] Speaker 2: Jory number ten. I agree. Jory number eleven. I agree. Jory number twelve. I agree. Jory number thirteen. [00:04:35] Speaker 1: I agree. [00:04:35] Speaker 2: Jory number fifteen. I agree. [00:04:37] Speaker 1: All right, ladies and gentlemen, that concludes your service as jurors in this matter. I, again, want to thank you for the considerable time and attention that you have displayed in this case. I'm sure by now you could understand how difficult the job it is to perform the duties of a juror in a very important and lengthy case. I think that you also can appreciate now the fact that the key to your discussions and your deliberations has been the ability of all of you to express your views and to discuss your views without fear of retaliation or incrimination from any party. and in order to maintain that same tradition and anticipation from additional jurors the court feels that it's very important that you maintain confidentiality in your deliberations. Under the rules of this court none of the parties or no one associated with these proceedings has the right to contact you without further order of the court and obviously if that were to be done you would be given advance notice. You also have a right to continue to refuse to discuss this matter with anyone that may ask you about it. Again, this is not only because of the protection of the confidentiality of your discussions but so that incoming jurors on other cases will also feel free to deliberate and express their views and vote their conscience in the jury room knowing that it is very likely that those deliberations will remain confidential. I need to go over something with counsel for just a couple of moments so I'm going to ask you at this time to report back to the jury deliberation room and I will be able to excuse you in a couple of minutes. But again, thank you very much for your service and please await further instructions from me. All right, everyone please be seated. I need counsel in light of the jury's verdict in this case I will be ordering a pre-sentence report and I would like to schedule a sentencing date at this time. It takes approximately seven to eight weeks to complete a thorough pre-sentence report so we're looking at sometime in the month of July and the first available court date would be July 13th. I realize that people go on vacation in the summer so I need to ask you to check your calendars now and let me know about your availability for July 13th. [00:08:01] Speaker 4: Yes, Your Honor and the state would also like to be heard as to bail and the 13th is fine with the state judge. [00:08:08] Speaker 1: The 13th is okay. It's fine, Your Honor. All right, then sentencing in this matter will be July 13th at 9 a.m. and I will hear the state at this time. [00:08:22] Speaker 4: Your Honor, the defendant having been found guilty of murder in the first degree is facing 30 years to life on that charge alone. Judge, at this time the incentive to flee will overcome any amount of bail money and it's for that reason that the state at this time requests that the court revoke bail and remand the defendant to the custody of the state. [00:08:49] Speaker 1: Counsel? [00:08:50] Speaker 3: Your Honor, I'd oppose that. I'd ask that you keep Ms. Moore out on bail. Obviously, she's not once violated any of the conditions of the bail. She's made it here every single day. Understands what she's facing but she has other concerns obviously including her children so I'd ask that you continue the bail at least until the time of sentencing. [00:09:10] Speaker 1: All right, thank you, Counsel. All right, Counsel, at this point the defendant stands convicted of a very horrible and brutal murder that was carried out with an obvious level of complexity and methodical detail and she is no longer entitled to the presumption of innocence. While it is true that the defendant has reported to the court when required at this point obviously in light of the grave consequences that she faces and the obvious dangerousness associated with the criminality that the defendant has been convicted of I believe it is appropriate for the court to revoke her bail and commit her without bail to the adult corrections center pending sentencing on July 13th. Counsel, anything further before the court recesses? [00:10:08] Speaker 4: No, Your Honor. [00:10:09] Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Thank you.