'In the Jury Room': State v. Ducic

C L E V E L A N D, Aug. 11, 2004 -- Part two of In the Jury Room continues, following a jury that must consider whether 47-year-old Mark Ducic is guilty of double murder.

Watch Part Two of In the Jury Room: State of Ohio vs. Mark Ducic on Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.

To read about the charges against Ducic and the trial, click here.

After entering the jury room to begin deliberations, the jury of 10 women and two men picked Chuck, a marketing specialist, as their foreman, and then decided to start the deliberations by discussing count one against Mark Ducic — the murder of his common-law wife, Barbara Davis.

After some initial debate, the jurors focused their discussion on Brad Weiss' credibility as a witness. Carmella, a restaurant manager, thought the jurors should take into account Weiss' criminal background, his drug addiction, and the deal he made with prosecutors to become an informant.

"The person that they're using in order to convict does make a difference. Even though they want to tell us it doesn't, it really, really does," she said.

Cheryl, a salon coordinator, responded: "He's not on trial. It is not an issue, bottom line. Mark Ducic said on those tapes, in his own words, that he took care of those two people … not once, not twice — he said it several times."

Just over an hour into their deliberations, the jury was split 10 to two in favor of convicting Ducic for the murder of Davis.

While the jury deliberated, Ducic himself was wondering what the jurors were thinking. He knew that his voice on the tape recordings could be very detrimental to his case.

"Why would I say something like that if I didn't do it?" he said. "If I wasn't going to say the things I did on the tape, I wouldn't be here, you know? That's the bottom line. I can't blame nobody else."

Before breaking for lunch, the jury decided to listen to the recordings again.

Listening to the tapes did not resolve the jurors' disagreements. Carmella was concerned that the tape was not the only thing that they should be considering.

The other jurors disagreed.

"It does not matter what you think or what you believe, he said it on the tape, period," Cheryl told Carmella.

The Waiting Game

While the jury was deliberating, the attorneys patiently waited, speculating on the outcome of the deliberations.

"There are 12 people in there discussing their 12 viewpoints, and I assume that some of them are together and some of them are not," said Ducic's defense attorney, John Luskin.

Prosecutor Mark Mahoney was worried which way juror No. 12, Carmella, would lean.

"Juror No. 12 bothers me because she might demand too much from the state. You know, 'Prove beyond a reasonable doubt. If you prove that to me then I will make the decision.' She concerns me a little bit," he said.

Coroner Testifies

By mid-afternoon Carmella was the lone holdout and raised the question of why the coroner, Dr. Elizabeth Balraj, initially ruled both deaths accidental overdoses, and then changed the cause of death to homicide.

As the day went on, the discussion in the jury room became heated, and at the end of the afternoon break, everyone but Carmella had returned to the jury room. The lawyers were notified that Carmella had requested to be removed from the jury.

Carmella returned to the jury room to tell the other jurors about her request.

"I think that I'm the wrong person for this chair," she said. "I have never felt so much pressure."

The judge asked that Carmella appear in the courtroom with the lawyers and Ducic present to discuss her request. If Carmella could not continue, the judge could either declare a mistrial or appoint an alternate juror and instruct the jury to begin deliberations all over again.

In the courtroom, the judge asked Carmella if she was physically and mentally capable of continuing the deliberations. Carmella said that it was more difficult than she thought it would be, but claimed that she could continue.

When Carmella rejoined the jury, they decided to read the judge's instructions again because she said she'd feel more comfortable if she fully understood the guidelines for each count.

Carmella read the judge's instructions for count one, aggravated murder, out loud to the other jurors.

"Before you can find the defendant guilty, you must find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant purposely and with prior calculation and design caused the death of Barbara Davis," she read.

Prior calculation and design meant that the crime was premeditated and that, in legal terms, Ducic acted with purpose and intent.

Rereading the instructions clarified the issue of prior intent for the jurors, and Carmella began to agree with the 11 other jurors to convict Ducic of count one, the murder of Barbara Davis.

Referring to the recorded conversation between Ducic and the informant, Weiss, Carmella said, "He said, just that sentence, that's prior calculation, in my opinion. You know what, let me just sign off on it, because I'm hearing what you're saying now, so it's coming to a head."

At the end of the day, the foreman read the completed verdict sheet to the jurors.

"The verdict, we the jury in this case, being duly impaneled and sworn, do find the defendant, Mark Ducic, guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of aggravated murder in violation as charged in count one of the indictment," he read.

As the jurors left for the night, they had only found Ducic guilty of the first count, the murder of Barbara Davis. They would have to return the next day to deliberate on the rest of the charges and to determine if Ducic should face the death penalty.

Jury Considers Count Two

After spending the night sequestered in a hotel, the jurors started the morning by considering the second charge against Ducic, the murder of his friend Donald Ehrke.

If they found Ducic guilty of killing both Ehrke and Davis, that would be double murder, which in Ohio permits the maximum sentence of death by lethal injection.

The foreman asked the jurors, "Raise your right hand if you want to approve this verdict of guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in count two."

After close to 20 hours of deliberating, the jury unanimously voted to approve the verdict of guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in count two, the murder of Don Ehrke.

The verdict meant that they would have to return to court for a sentencing phase where they would have to determine Ducic's fate.

But before they could deliver their verdict on the murder charges and begin the sentencing phase of the trial, they had to consider 27 other counts, including 16 narcotic charges.

The Verdict

In the late afternoon, the bailiff called the lawyers and told them to get ready to come back to court for the verdict.

Luskin was very worried about the outcome of the deliberations.

"Just like a hollowness in the pit of my stomach," he said. "Earlier in the day, I was hoping for a hung jury, now I know it's Ducic who's gonna be hung. It's my fault."

At the end day of deliberations, the jury returned to the courtroom to deliver their verdict.

The judge read the verdict to the court: "Count one, we the jury in the case, being duly impaneled and sworn, do find the defendant Mark Ducic guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of aggravated murder."

The jurors convicted Ducic of 30 of 32 counts. They would return later to decide if he should be sentenced to death.

Ducic and his lawyers would have to prepare for the sentencing phase of the trial. They would stand in front of the jury one more time, asking them to spare Ducic's life.

To find out what happened in the sentencing phase, watch Part Two of In the Jury Room: State of Ohio vs. Mark Ducic on Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.