CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – A juror was hospitalized with chest pains and deliberations were suspended in the trial of a former national Republican Party official accused of orchestrating an election day phone-jamming plot against New Hampshire Democrats.

The juror, a woman, was admitted to Concord Hospital on Tuesday night, U.S. District Judge Steven McAuliffe said in court Wednesday on what was to be the second day of deliberations in the trial of James Tobin.

The woman had undergone tests and could be released later Wednesday, McAuliffe said. The panel agreed to reconvene today.

Two alternates were chosen along with the jury.

A court spokeswoman said deliberations would resume today.

Tobin, 45, is charged with one count of interfering with voters rights and several counts of telephone harassment. If convicted, he faces a maximum 17-year prison sentence and a $750,000 fine.

For nearly two hours on Election Day 2002, hundreds of hang-up calls overwhelmed Democratic get-out-the-vote phone banks and a ride-to-the-polls line run by Manchester’s firefighters union.

The state GOP’s former executive director, Chuck McGee, who admitted hatching the plot, has completed a seven-month sentence for conspiracy.

Allen Raymond, former president of Virginia-based GOP Marketplace LLC, pleaded guilty to organizing the jamming. He hopes a five-month sentence will be reduced in exchange for his cooperation with prosecutors.

Copy the Story Link