Prospective Juror Is Jailed for Contempt

NOTE: If you have jury duty in Fairfax County today, don't read this article. Seriously.

A potential juror who allegedly disobeyed a Fairfax judge's order not to read any news coverage of the case was tossed in jail yesterday after making comments about a news article on the case in the courthouse elevator.

The episode occurred before the second day of jury selection in the capital murder retrial of Alfredo R. Prieto, who is accused of slaying Rachael A. Raver and Warren H. Fulton III outside of Reston in 1988. Prieto's first trial this summer was upset by a rogue juror, who declared after the panel had convicted Prieto that he had been pressured by his fellow jurors to vote guilty. A mistrial was declared.

Potential jurors in the second trial filled out questionnaires Monday, and some of the panelists were then questioned individually.

Yesterday, as the group was heading to the fifth-floor courtroom, potential juror Kenneth P. White, 61, of the Fairfax City area reportedly began discussing a three-paragraph item about the case in The Washington Post with another potential juror. The item gave the history of the case and noted that Prieto is on death row in California for a 1990 rape and murder.

White allegedly told the other juror that, after reading the item, he believed the case was "all going to be a crock of [expletive]." The other juror apparently did not respond, attorneys in the case said, but the court reporter relayed the comments to Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Randy I. Bellows.

Bellows excluded White from the morning questioning, then brought him in and asked what happened. The attorneys said White denied reading the article or discussing the case. Bellows then ordered him to jail for eight hours for summary contempt, although he later shortened that to five hours, or until 4 p.m.

Another 120 potential jurors are to be summoned today for another round of selection.