The possibility of juror misconduct during deliberations in a robbery trial could result in a new trial for Zachariah Collin Stubbs of Marysville.
A juror apparently tried on a blond wig used in a bank robbery to figure out how a strand of Stubbs’ hair could have gotten on the outside of the wig.
Forensic examiners found Stubbs’ hair on the outside. It produced genetic evidence that eventually led to his arrest and conviction in the July 2000 robbery of a south Everett Washington Mutual Bank branch.
Stubbs, 27, stands to serve more than 10 years in prison if the conviction stands.
The potential juror misconduct came as a surprise Friday to Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Anita Farris, deputy prosecutor John Adcock and defense attorney Mark Mestel, who called one of the 12 jurors as a witness for a hearing on his motion for a new trial.
Mestel believes there was little mention in the trial of a pink hairnet, apparently part of the blond wig, and jurors read too much significance into the hairnet when they deliberated.
What surprised the lawyers was the juror’s testimony that a woman juror went into the bathroom and tried on the wig. According to state law, jurors are not supposed to experiment with evidence or investigate on their own.
Farris denied Mestel’s request for a new trial on the hairnet issue.
However, the testimony about the juror trying on the wig was new to everyone, and she said the lawyers would have to talk with the remaining 11 jurors before deciding if there had been misconduct.
Jurors will be summoned back to court, tentatively Dec. 12, to talk about what went on during deliberations.
The jury convicted Stubbs of first-degree robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm. It acquitted him on a second charge of the gunpoint robbery of the car that was used in the bank heist.
Stubbs was convicted Sept. 17 of being the man who marched into the bank wearing a blond wig, rubber gloves and a clown mask. Two shots were fired that terrorized patrons, but no one was injured.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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