Judge tells jury in hitman case they have 10 charges to consider

THE ATMOSPHERE was peculiarly muted as the jury of eight men and four women filed out at 3.45pm to deliberate on the cases of Sharon Collins and Essam Eid, the Las Vegas poker dealer she is accused of hiring to kill her partner and his two sons.

Apart from Ms Collins's two sons, Gary and David, sitting staunchly on either side of her, the defendants' only supporters in court were her former husband, Noel Collins, the father of her sons, and his wife Fiona.

Public interest was low; some half a dozen members of the public were in court. Up to 10 lawyers were there as usual, representing the State, Ms Collins and Mr Eid.

It was day 30 of a case that has stretched from a predicted four weeks to seven, and Mr Justice Roderick Murphy said he had "raced" through the final part of his more than six hours summing up, begun at 11.45am on Friday. He thanked the jury for their patience and said they had 10 charges to consider. No defendant was obliged to give evidence - Ms Collins had chosen to take the stand - and they should just remember the matters he had dealt with. "We are dealing with the presumption of innocence." He talked about the concept of "beyond reasonable doubt" and said this was "not a mathematical certainty or a moral certainty", but was something of critical importance to the case the prosecution makes.

At 5.15pm, tension rose when there was a knock on the door, but it was a request for a smoking break. They resumed at 5.40pm. The judge said they were not going to be sitting "very late" in the evening but he wanted to give them more time for their deliberations.

Then, a few minutes short of 7pm, he called them back to say he was not going to detain them any longer. He told them he would be recharging them in the morning with some matters that had been raised. In particular, there was one item undated in the e-mail traffic and he asked them to return a number of documents.

There would be further requisitions tomorrow from counsel and he asked them to assemble at 11am. This provoked a questioning look on their faces, no doubt related to the fact that a couple have holiday flights booked this week. "I was going to ask you to assemble at 10 but perhaps that would be trying your patience?" he suggested. Heads nodded vigorously in favour of the 10am start.

He asked them not to deliberate overnight, to "relax, have a good evening, have a drink as well. You're entitled to that at this stage."