Juror removed from Broyhill murder trial in Raleigh
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- The Jonathan Broyhill murder trial took a detour in Raleigh Wednesday after the judge got a report about alleged behavior by one of the jurors on the case.
Judge Paul Ridgeway said he had gotten a note from a juror who said another juror had spoken about his wife watching livestreaming of the trial and expressing concern they were discussing the case, which jurors are not supposed to do.
Ridgeway held an inquiry and had the cameras in the courtroom turned off while he spoke with the juror in question. After the inquiry, the man was dismissed from the jury.
Despite that, defense attorneys moved for a mistrial.
"Mr. Broyhill is entitled to 12 unaffected jurors," offered Assistant Public Defender Joseph Arbour.
Ridgeway denied the motion saying he is confident jurors can remain impartial.
After the enquiry, Nation Hahn returned to the witness stand to continuing testifying about the day Broyhill attacked him and his wife, Jamie, in their home with an eight-inch kitchen knife.
On the stand Tuesday, Nation described hearing Jamie screaming and running downstairs to find a gruesome scene.
"There was blood on the floor and I could see Jamie's legs sticking out ... and I looked up and Jon was standing over her with a knife," said Nation.
Broyhill was a long-time friend of the Hahns. He met Nation in their mutual hometown of Lenoir, North Carolina on a church trip in 2000 and served as best man at Nation and Jamie's wedding in 2009.
After graduating from UNC Chapel Hill, Jamie formed a political consulting firm called Sky Blue Strategies and took on the job of fundraising for the campaign of Congressman Brad Miller. Jamie did the fundraising, and she hired Broyhill to do the accounting and financial reporting to the Federal Election Commission.
Broyhill's attorneys admit that between 2011 and 2013, he wrote himself checks from the campaign account totaling more than $46,500.
Not only that, over the years of their friendship, he told the Hahns he had multiple sclerosis, needed gall bladder surgery, and had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. None of it was true, and even though the Hahns drove him to doctor's appointments and waited for him, he never actually saw a doctor.
In 2012, Congressman Miller announced he was not running for reelection and the campaign began to wind down.
While Broyhill stopped working for Sky Blue at the end of 2012, he was still responsible for providing financial information to Jamie Hahn and for helping her prepare final financial statements for the Federal Election Commission.
He prepared a draft statement that said that Miller's personal loans to his own campaign had been repaid and that the campaign checking account had a balance of over $60,000 - when it was actually overdrawn.
Jamie realized there was a problem when a Time Warner bill collector contacted her about an unpaid bill and said the check written to cover the amount had bounced.
Jamie and Broyhill were to meet at her home on April 22, 2013 to talk about the issues. That's when he attacked her with the knife and then turned on Nation when he came downstairs to intervene.
Nation was able to fight him off and give Jamie time to get out of the house, but she died days later at WakeMed despite multiple surgeries to try and save her life. Nation suffered extreme wounds to his hands that required surgery and rehabilitation.
After the attack, Broyhill attempted suicide by cutting his wrists and abdomen.
Broyhill's attorneys don't dispute that he attacked the couple, but they are arguing he should be convicted of second-degree murder - not the premeditated first-degree murder with which he is charged.
They say he was a deeply troubled individual, who actually went to the Hahns' home with the intention of killing himself, but something in him snapped and he attacked the couple first.
The prosecution maintains Broyhill purchased the knife before he went to the home, which shows premeditation.
Broyhill faces the first-degree murder charge, two charges of attempted first-degree murder, and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.
The jury of five men and seven women has to decide between those charges and a possible lesser charge of second-degree murder.
