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ST. GEORGE — Three months after a St. George jury returned a not guilty verdict to burglary and theft for two men who admitted breaking into a Beaver County pig farm and taking two piglets, five jurors have revealed for the first time what exactly went on during their deliberations and why they settled on exonerating two animal welfare activists.
The five people from St. George spoke at the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver on Friday during a symposium about the trial hosted by an animal advocacy group on campus.
The jurors, who asked not to be photographed and only went by their first names, revealed while they settled quickly on a not-guilty verdict for one of the two men, Paul Picklesimer, they were deadlocked for several hours on the other defendant. Ultimately, they said Wayne Hsiung also was acquitted when it was affirmed in a question to the judge that the monetary value of the piglets taken was zero.
A juror named Lynne said it came down to Instruction 43 in the jury instructions. "The prosecution had to show the pigs had a value greater than zero," Lynne said. "I circled that right there."
Read the full article at St. George News.
