But the brief courtroom session did offer lawyers, reporters and the defendant, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, their first glimpse of the jurors in a while. Most seemed to be enjoying themselves. A couple of women in the front row smiled and whispered among themselves. A few seemed to look in Libby’s general direction (usually a good sign for a defendant)–although it was hard to tell if they were looking at him, one of his lawyers or the continually broken clock right above him.
This in fact may have been a source of their amusement. The clock never moved during the first few days of the trial. Then after a front-page New York Times expose about the clock that never moved, courthouse officials fixed it. Now it was broken again. Can’t the government do anything right? And if time in the courtroom is standing still again, what’s the rush on reaching a verdict?
On the other hand, there was a somewhat older woman in the back row who stared stoically in front of her in what looked like a glower. But she didn’t look happy during the trial either. Another juror sitting directly in front of her, a man in his mid-50s, seemed much more relaxed and, with the other happier women sitting to his left, appeared to be sharing some sort of inside joke. He too whispered and smiled. The jurors–or most of them anyway–appeared to have bonded and were in no rush to finish their job, even while Libby, his lawyers, the press corps and much of political Washington anxiously await their decision.
