Those hoping for a swift verdict in the murder trial of Gary Lee Bullock — including prosecutor Andrew Isaac — remain on pins and needles this afternoon as the jury continues its deliberations. A few minutes ago the full jury and three of the four alternates reconvened in open court — along with the attorneys, the judge and Bullock himself — to view a short segment of security camera footage from the night Father Eric Freed was murdered.

The clip in question fell victim to a technical snafu during the prosecution’s initial case. District Attorney Investigator Martin Perrone had edited together many clips from throughout the night of Dec. 31, 2013-to-Jan. 1, 2014, creating one long exhibit that showed Bullock milling about the property of St. Bernard Catholic Parish.

But during testimony a short segment, captured between 2:14 a.m. and 2:18 a.m. on Jan. 1, came up missing. Isaac suggested he must have deleted it, and so Perrone went to the source material — the security system’s digital video recorder — to play that section of video for the jury.

Now, after more than nine hours of deliberations, the jury wanted to see that clip again. With Freed’s friends and family sitting in the back of the courtroom, and a phalanx of reporters across the aisle, Perrone played the clip for the jury once again, and Isaac noted that the footage has now been placed onto a DVD for the jury to review at its leisure. 

After watching the clip again, one of the jurors submitted a question via a paper questionnaire form, which Judge John Feeney then read aloud. Juror number 10 wanted to know if Perrona had any other videos from between 2:15 a.m. and 2:55 a.m. that had not been presented to the jury.

“I hope not,” Perrone replied after a beat, prompting laughter that broke the tension throughout the courtroom.

With that, Judge Feeney told the jurors to return to their deliberations, and they filed back behind closed doors.

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