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Title: Did alleged penis-boosting killer try to bribe jurors?
Source:
nj.com
URL Source: http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2 ... _nj_woman_in.html#incart_river
Published: May 13, 2015
Author: Bill Wichert
Post Date: 2015-05-13 08:32:05 by cranky
Keywords: None
Views: 734
Comments: 1
Kasia Rivera and one of her attorneys, Jimmy Johnson, pictured left to right, appear in court on Tuesday. Rivera, 38, of East Orange, was taken into custody on Tuesday after being accused of jury tampering in her trial on charges of causing a man's death through a penis enlargement procedure in 2011. An East Orange woman was accused on Tuesday of conspiring to bribe potential jurors to influence the outcome of her trial on charges of conducting a fatal penis enlargement procedure in 2011. With jury selection still underway in the trial of Kasia Rivera, three jurors said during a hearing on Tuesday that they had been approached on Friday by a man associated with Rivera. Two of the jurors said they were offered bribes of $5,000. One of those two jurors said he gave his phone number to the man and later received three calls from a woman whom he believed to be Rivera. During the last phone call, the juror told the woman that $5,000 was "a little cheap." After questioning 20 prospective jurors individually, Superior Court Judge Ronald Wigler found that Rivera was complicit in the attempt to improperly influence the potential jury. The judge revoked Rivera's bail and remanded her to the county jail. "This attempt to corrupt our jury is an attack on our entire system of justice," Wigler said. "This obviously is something that cannot and will not be tolerated." After sheriff's officers handcuffed Rivera, she protested the judge's decision, saying through tears that she had nothing to do with the alleged jury tampering. "You have to stop committing crimes," Wigler told her. Rivera immediately responded, "What crime, Judge? I'm innocent." Given the potential impact on all of the jurors, Wigler dismissed all of them from serving on the trial. It was not immediately clear when jury selection would resume in the case. In an unrelated case, Rivera is accused of injecting silicone into another woman's buttocks and breasts up to four times over the last two years. After being arrested in that matter in February, Rivera was released on bail the following month. The trial was expected to cover the charges of reckless manslaughter and the unauthorized practice of medicine against Rivera, 38, in connection with the May 2011 death of Justin Street, 22, of East Orange. After Rivera injected silicone into his penis, Street died from a silicone embolism the following day, authorities said. Jury selection in the trial began on May 5. After learning about the alleged jury tampering, Wigler on Tuesday questioned each of the prospective jurors in one-on-one sessions about whether they had been approached about the case. Three jurors said they were approached on Friday by Rivera's associate. Two of the jurors said the man followed them into the men's restroom. One juror said the man offered him $5,000 to say Rivera was innocent, but he told him he wasn't interested and left the restroom. "I felt very uncomfortable," the juror said. The other juror who was approached in the restroom said he cut off the man after the man said Rivera was his aunt. "When he said, 'That's my aunt,' I knew where he was going at that point," the juror said. "I said, 'Listen, I just don't want to hear anymore,' and I walked out." But the third juror apparently showed interest in the bribe. After the man approached the juror in the hallway about the $5,000 bribe, the juror said he provided his phone number to the man. On Friday evening, the juror received a phone call from a woman whom he believed was Rivera, who identified herself as "K from downtown." The woman told him he would receive half of the money up-front and then the second half at the conclusion of the trial, according to the juror. On Saturday, the juror said the woman called him again and wanted to meet up, but he wasn't able to. When the woman called a third time on Sunday, the juror said he told her the $5,000 offer was "a little cheap." After the jurors were dismissed on Tuesday, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Fennelly indicated prosecutors will conduct an ongoing investigation to determine if charges are warranted against Rivera and her alleged accomplice. "This was an attack on the jury process here," Fennelly said. But Rivera's attorney, Olubukola Adetula, argued the alleged accomplice was acting on his own and said the woman who called the third juror was not Rivera. "My client denies any involvement in this," Adetula said.
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#1. To: cranky (#0)
Her earlier penis-injection homicide victim:
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