Harry Condron spent nearly 60 days in a cramped Circuit Criminal Court jury box during the trial of Seán FitzPatrick, yet he found out that the judge had ordered the jury to acquit only when he met a friend at work this week.
The former chairman of Anglo Irish Bank was formally acquitted of misleading the banks' investors by the jury on Wednesday eight months after the trial began.
The day before, Judge John Aylmer had ruled that he intended to order the jury to reach a not guilty verdict because of severe deficiencies in the investigation by the Office of Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE).
In an unusual move, the judge gave permission for the media to publish his ruling immediately instead of allowing the jury to hear it first: “I got told by the guys in work,” Mr Condron said.
“I was in work yesterday evening and one of the lads said to me, ‘Did you hear about your trial?’ I said ‘no’. He said, ‘Yea, the judge just acquitted’. And I was like: ‘What? What? Why weren’t we told first?’.”
Delays during trial
Two other jurors who did not wish to be named said they heard about the acquittal on the radio.
A specially enlarged jury panel of 15 was selected for the trial in September, where they were told it would finish by Christmas.
However, extensive legal argument in the absence of the jury and the death of the judge’s father caused lengthy delays.
The stop-start nature of the trial meant there were frequently weeks when the jury were not required in court. In total the trial sat for 127 days.
By the end two jurors had dropped out for personal reasons, leaving a panel of 13. Of these a dozen were selected on Wednesday morning to deliver the verdict ordered by the judge.
No chance to deliberate
Mr Condron said it was disappointing they did not get a chance to deliberate on a verdict. “I feel gutted that we didn’t get to come to a decision.”
“The judge has his reasons for doing what he did but it just seems like it got dragged out and dragged out.
“And for what? To get a pat on the back and told you do don’t have to do jury service again if you don’t want to? That took the fun out of coming and doing jury service.”
The jurors’ frustration was acknowledged by the judge in his final address to them, when he acknowledged that some of the jurors would be disappointed by how “it has panned out”.
Mr Condron said the trial impacted his life “to a certain degree”, though the judge had been generous in his dealings with the jury when they faced pressures. Mr Condron, whose work involves doing contract work for clients, said his employer was supportive: “My boss didn’t care, but the people who contracted me out were going bananas.”
