Missionary's killer seeks to overturn verdict

CHESAPEAKE

Convicted murderer James Boughton Jr. is seeking a new trial, alleging juror misconduct during his three-week trial in the shooting death of a Mormon missionary.

Defense attorney Andrew Sacks told Chesapeake Circuit Judge Randy Smith on Friday that a woman known as juror No. 26 complained to other jurors about defense tactics and withheld information about a bitter divorce.

Smith said he would allow attorneys to gather more evidence and rule later on whether the juror's testimony tainted the trial. He denied other motions to throw out the verdict and grant Boughton a new trial.

A Chesapeake jury convicted Boughton, 22, in December of killing Morgan W. Young with a gunshot to the head and wounding another missionary, Joshua Heidbrink, in January 2006.

Juror No. 26, a divorced woman with children, testified Friday she had been slapped by her former husband and that he threatened to kill her prior to their separation.

She went to Chesapeake Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court after the verbal threat, spoke to investigators and took her children to a shelter, she said.

When asked before the trial whether she had ever been a crime victim, the woman did not mention details of the divorce. "I didn't think of it as a crime. I thought of it as a marital dispute," she said.

Sacks said he would have excluded the juror had he known her background. He also argued that the juror's complaints about defense questioning revealed a bias that affected other jurors.

"That creates a cloud over this case," he said.

Prosecutor D.J. Hansen said the juror unintentionally left out details about her divorce because she didn't believe she had been a victim of a crime. "It was an honest omission," Hansen said. "There was nothing malicious about this."

Smith gave the lawyers three weeks to review the woman's divorce records and file new motions. He said he would issue a written ruling.

A jury recommended a 38-year sentence for Boughton. The sentencing, which had been set for Aug. 3, will be rescheduled.

Louis Hansen, (757) 222-5221, louis.hansen@pilotonline.com