The most obstinate holdout juror who, despite mountains of evidence, found Pedro Espada, Jr. not guilty of embezzlement just so happens to work for JP Morgan Chase, which, you may recall, has been in the news recently for its own shady financial activity. Fifteen minutes into deliberations, Chase employee Fabiola St. Phar reportedly jumped up from her seat and declared, "He’s innocent! He’s innocent! He’s innocent and I’m not going to change my mind," another juror tells the Daily News. See, who needs prayers, protective red clothing and crucifixes when you've got the hazy moral twilight culture of the banking industry to protect you?
According to multiple juror accounts obtained by the News, St. Phar refused to explain why she thought ex-State Senator Espada and his son were innocent of embezzlement charges. Joined by a bus driver and another unidentified holdout in her determination to let Espada walk free, St. Phar would only reply, "“Because I can," when jurors asked to explain her position, according to juror Anita Coleman, a city Education Department administrator, and another juror.
“That’s what we were up against for two weeks,” Coleman tells the News. "To this day, neither of them (the three holdouts) expressed in words, verbally, what their opposition was." The jury was hung 9-3 on embezzlement charges against Espada and his son Pedro, but Espada was convicted of felony theft, and could face up to ten years in prison for each of the four counts. That's sweet, sweet music to the ears of NY Post columnist Andrea Peyser, who coos thus in an editorial headlined "Finally, greedy swine must cry oinkle!":
In the blink of an eyelash, former state Sen. and miserable crook Pedro Espada Jr. was reduced from enjoying $60,000 worth of sushi and lobster feasts to subsisting on Meatloaf Surprise and communal showers. My advice to Pedro: Don’t pick up the soap...
It didn’t seem to dawn on Espada until yesterday that he was going to hell. For a man so accustomed to pampering himself, prison isn’t any better than a dungeon. Yesterday morning, 11 days into deliberations, a jury delivered the death blows. The word “guilty!’’ rang out, four times. The realization wiped the grin off Espada’s infuriatingly smug face.
Yes, it's 2012 and people are still making prison rape "jokes" and warning "don't pick up the soap." We're guessing Peyser writes her column wearing Hammer pants, but, to be fair, after watching Espada's arrogant parade of corruption over the years, we can certainly relate to her schadenfreude. That said, we'll miss Pedro's clownish antics if and when he goes up river! Of course, Albany seems to have an inexhaustible supply of colorful buffoons to take his place.
