The Devil, You Say?

With that, the defense made the final move of the trial endgame, exercising its legal right to refuse to go forward with 11 jurors. And Spring Shadows Glen vanished into thin air, just like all those repressed memories of devil worship. While the prosecution declared that it wanted to proceed with the trial, the government knew that when the final juror was dismissed, a mistrial was guaranteed.

"I could be wrong, and the government could come in and say, 'We want a retrial,' " says Hardin. "And then I would have made the wrong decision. But it was my view and everybody else's view that we believe that once the government reviews it they are not going to be willing to bite this thing off again." Officially, the United States Attorney's Office will announce its decision early next month.

If the government takes into account the jury's opinion, the defendants are home free. After the mistrial, the final jurors decided to take an informal vote. The tally was 10-2 for acquittal. According to Hardin, one of the women jurors called the wife of a defendant that evening. She casually mentioned that after further deliberation during the panel's farewell lunch, all the jurors favored acquittal.

"This woman calling was one who had voted guilty initially, and by the end of lunch she was ready to vote not guilty," chuckled Hardin. "Doesn't sound to me like she would have held up long during jury deliberation."

In a final eerie coincidence, the Insider called The Gingerman to get management's reaction to its new status as the cigar bar that helped sink a federal trial. He was referred to lawyer Glenn Diddel. In addition to representing The Gingerman, he happens to represent a group of Spring Shadows Glen nurses who sued the hospital and also provided key trial testimony for the government. Diddel says he was unaware of The Gingerman's connection to the case but was impressed with the sagacity of the woman juror's advice to Dan Cogdell.

"While we certainly would not encourage juror misconduct," Diddel solemnly intoned, "we can certainly agree that The Gingerman is the best place to smoke a cigar in the city of Houston."

Of course, that could be just his alter talking.

Don't repress your news tips. Take them to the Insider. Call him at (713)280-2483, fax him at (713)280-2483 or e-mail him at insider@houstonpress.com.