CRAWFORD COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — The attorney for Eathan Cypert, a Van Buren man who was found guilty of his wife's murder on Jan. 25 by a Crawford County jury, has filed a motion for a new trial based on alleged jury misconduct.
Adam Rose filed the motion for a new trial on Wednesday, Jan. 31, six days after his client was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.
In the filing, Rose says a member of the jury told him on Jan. 30 that other members of the jury mentioned during deliberations that they knew the victim and her family, including that they'd been in the victim's home.
"In that conversation, this jury member disclosed this information willingly and just said, 'I just didn't seem fair to me this happened,'" Rose said. "I do have a duty to my client, and not just my client, but to the justice system as a whole to disclose that when justice I don't believe was done fairly."
Rose alleges these jury members also provided details of the layout of the home and even drew a diagram of the home for other jury members during deliberations.
"This was a central point of contention in the defendant's theory of the case presented to the jury, and a diagram of the home was never presented by the state or the defense as evidence in the case presented to the jury," Rose said.
While in deliberations, a member of the jury also reportedly told other jury members about plea negotiations and offers made by the state to the defendant in the case.
Rose claims he didn't know about the jury misconduct due to the fact jury members aren't allowed to speak with defense counsel until after their verdict is rendered.
"The jury misconduct that occurred here involves the consideration of extraneous prejudicial information, and improper outside influence that affected the jury deliberations, which all are fair grounds for a new trial," Rose said in the motion.
Rose also requested there be a hearing and to subpoena all 12 jurors to testify under oath about the allegations of misconduct to see what extra information was discussed during deliberations.
Rose added that this isn't a common thing to happen.
"The jury has to disclose that they're already under oath at this point to tell the truth. And this particular jury member never disclosed that to the court. So not only did he commit fraud on Eathan in the system, but also on the court itself" said Rose. "The judge asks the jury members before anyone sits before the very beginning of the case if they know anything about the case, do they know any of the people in the case and the prosecutor goes through their entire witness list."
"The court absolutely could find somebody, they can hold them in contempt, meaning they put them in jail for a few days. I mean, there are things to the courts discretion. However, that's not up to the prosecutor or me to make that decision" said Rose.
Crawford County Prosecuting Attorney Kevin Holmes said once the verdict was announced, the jury deliberated for about an hour on the guilty verdict and then 20-25 minutes on his sentence.
Holmes responded to Rose's request on Feb. 2, stating that a potential juror who later became a juror did disclose that he went to school with the victim's mother and that what he knew about the case was "what he had seen on the news."
The prosecutor argued that no case law suggests knowledge of the victim or her family constitutes jury misconduct. "Further, knowing the victim or her family would not even disqualify a juror as long as there is no bias," Holmes said in his response.
Holmes also mentioned that Rose could have stricken the potential juror during jury selection when he admitted to knowing the victim's family. "The fact that the defense is alleging in its brief that he was unaware that anyone on the jury knew the victim or her family does not suggest any jury misconduct, but rather that the defense counsel was not paying attention," Holmes said.
Cypert was on trial for an incident on July 3, 2022, where deputies with the Crawford County Sheriff's Office responded to a domestic disturbance call near Natural Dam between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m.
Once on the scene, deputies found 41-year-old Kristina Cypert had been shot. She was pronounced dead.
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