FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.- The trial of suspended Miramar, Fla., Commissioner Fitzroy Salesman, charged with brandishing a semi-automatic pistol in a supermarket, collapsed Tuesday after one juror brought a dog-eared paperback dictionary to court to look up a word during deliberations.

The word was “imminent.”

It was key to Salesman’s defense: He said he drew his gun because he was in imminent danger when a fellow shopper at the Winn-Dixie challenged him to a fight.

Learning of the presence of the American Heritage dictionary in the jury room, Circuit Judge Matthew Destry declared a mistrial. Red-faced, the juror responsible left the courtroom. The most dissatisfied person at the trial may have been Salesman, who is running for re-election next week.

“I am disappointed,” said Salesman, 52. “I would have rather it be over, but it’s not, so we have to live with it.”

Salesman had wanted his case resolved before Miramar voters go to the polls Tuesday.

Instead, Destry scheduled a second trial with a new jury in April.

If convicted of aggravated assault with a firearm, a felony, Salesman faces a mandatory minimum sentence of three years in prison.

When he testified Monday, Salesman said he was “just trying to get better service” at a Winn-Dixie on Thanksgiving eve 2007 when another shopper, Lazavius Hudson, took offense, cursed and offered to fight him outside.

Salesman said he felt threatened, and in a “gut reaction” pulled his gun from his waistband.

The reason for the mistrial in the four-day trial was simple. Before reaching a verdict, jurors are repeatedly told to rely solely upon evidence presented in court and the judge’s instructions to them, and not to conduct research of their own.

After about an hour of deliberations Monday evening, jurors asked to review Winn-Dixie’s surveillance footage of the confrontation, and for a legal definition of the word “imminent.”

Destry declined to define the word, instead telling jurors to rely on his previous instructions. He then dismissed the panel for the night.

On Tuesday morning, Destry learned that one juror, John W. Fanning, had brought his dictionary to the jury room, and that all but one member of the six jurors had looked at the meaning of the word.

“Imminent,” the dictionary said, means “about to occur; impending.”

Destry, the prosecution and the defense agreed that was a pretty good definition. But the judge said he had no option but to declare the trial was at an end, and to send the jury home without a verdict.

In an interview afterward, Fanning said he meant no harm, and that he regretted the court’s wasted efforts.

“It’s something that happened, that I really thought was harmless, but now I know,” he said . “Nothing’s harmless, I guess, when it comes to being on a jury. … Actually it was stupid on my part.”

A Fort Lauderdale appellate attorney not associated with the Salesman case said it’s quite common for mistrials to arise when jurors consult dictionaries, magazine articles and other outside resources not entered into evidence.

“Justice requires the state to prove its case with evidence presented at trial only,” Robert Buschel said.


Had the trial continued, one juror said he thought Salesman was heading for a conviction, but on a lesser charge.

“There was no one that bought the self-defense,” juror Chuck Ferris said. “I think it’s almost with certainty we would have come back with the inappropriate display (of a firearm) conviction.”

That misdemeanor carries a maximum penalty of one year in the county jail.

Pending trial, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist suspended Salesman from office. If Salesman wins re-election, he will remain suspended until the case is resolved, said Sterling Ivey, a spokesman for the governor.

If Salesman wins at the polls and is then convicted of the felony, Miramar would have to hold a special election to replace him, at a cost of approximately $100,000.

“I am going to let the electorate make the choice, and I can live with it,” Salesman said.

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(Sun Sentinel staff writer Rachel Hatzipanagos contributed to this report.)

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(c) 2009, Sun Sentinel.

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AP-NY-03-03-09 2136EST