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A jury social distanced through an 8-week trial as COVID-19 raged. Here's how they did it

Andrew Wolfson
Louisville Courier Journal

In an extraordinary criminal trial that ran through the heart of the coronavirus pandemic, jurors listened to evidence in a federal courtroom in Lexington that was reconfigured specifically to protect them from the virus.

Three of them sat in the gallery so they didn’t have to crowd together in the jury box. 

During the eight-week trial that ended Thursday, jurors were offered masks and gloves by U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell, but they elected to give them instead to health care workers and first responders. 

“The jury’s commitment to a process that took over two months during one of the most difficult times in modern history was beyond amazing,” said defense attorney Russell Baldani, whose client, a pilot, was acquitted of conspiring to traffic in cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana and money laundering. 

"I loved that jury," said attorney Randy Sue Pollock, who represented another defendant who was acquitted. "They were courageous."

Cocaine seized from private jet that landed on April 21, 2017 in Lexington

And Caldwell said in an email Saturday night:

“When called for jury duty, most Americans do everything within their power to get out of it. Unlike most, these jurors came prepared to do what would have been a tough job under ordinary circumstances; but when confronted with COVID-19, these jurors unflinchingly rose to the challenge and bravely performed their duties under extraordinary circumstances."

According to court records, three of the four defendants were acquitted and one was convicted in a case that grew out of one of the largest drug seizures in Kentucky history.

Baldani said the trial was the only one in federal court in the country that continued through the COVID-19 crisis. 

He said Caldwell took extraordinary precautions to safeguard the jury, including a requirement that they fill out a daily questionnaire about their health. 

Caldwell also interviewed each in private to see if they had concerns about continuing, and none of them did, Baldani said. 

“I assumed they would not want to go forward, but they did,” he said. “They knew how important this was.” 

When it came time to deliberate, they did so in a jury lounge rather than a smaller jury room so they could keep at least 6 feet apart. 

And instead of rushing to reach a verdict so they could get home, they deliberated for an astonishing nine days.

In a news release, U.S. Attorney Robert Duncan Jr. also saluted the jury and said the investigation and prosecution of the case "helped disrupt a major drug trafficking and money laundering organization operating across the United States."

The statement noted that four defendants previously pleaded guilty.

When jury selection in the trial of Torrey Ward, Robert Chipperfield Jr., Nader Sarkhosh and Katharine Matthews began Feb. 24, officials advised the virus wouldn’t be a problem in the United States. 

“There was no talk of continuing the case,” Baldani said. 

U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell

In March, Chief Judge Danny Reeves issued an order acknowledging a heath emergency and delaying all cases — except those already in progress, which he said could continue at the discretion of the presiding judge. 

Caldwell recognized the risks, Baldani said, but also that all four defendants were from California and two of their attorneys had relocated to Kentucky for the trial. 

“These defendants had waited for their day in court a long time, and we were already well into the trial,” he said. 

The trial was suspended for a week while the courthouse was closed, but then it went on.

One juror wore a mask — to protect others, Baldani said — and several were seated in chairs in front of the jury box so they could all observe social distancing. Three more sat where spectators usually are located. 

They listened as the government and defense presented 49 witnesses. 

The case began when a private jet landed at Bluegrass Airport with 80 kilos of cocaine and 20 kilos of methamphetamine crammed into suitcases.  

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Federal agents had been tipped off about its arrival, and the three people aboard were arrested. 

All three pleaded guilty, including the ringleader, Robert Walter Carlson, 47, who implicated others, including the four defendants whose trial ended last week. 

Carlson told agents he had cocaine connections in Mexico and marijuana ties in Northern California, and that he had flown drugs to cities along the East Coast on private charters and returned with suitcases full of cash. 

Flashy and flamboyant, Carlson claimed to have made a fortune selling a computer company and then invested the money in strip joints.

He lived in a $25,000 a month estate in Malibu, Baldani said, and named one of his companies “Gordon Gekko Holdings,” after the fictional character in the 1987 movie “Wall Street” who preached that “greed is good.”

He arranged for young women and other unwitting travelers to fly on the planes so the suitcases of cash and drugs did not attract suspicion, Baldani said. 

Carlson, who was sentenced to nearly 17 years in prison, testified at trial that Ward, Baldani’s client, and Chipperfield, also a pilot, flew shipments of drugs and cash — knowing full well what was on board. 

He testified that Sarkhosh, who was part owner of a charter company, also knew of the cargo, while Matthews was his partner and supervised shipments when he was not able to travel. 

But all four defendants testified and denied the allegations. 

Ward admitted he flew Carlston aboard a Beechcraft Bonanza but never knew anything illicit was on board. 

Baldani said he was an aviation buff who “lives and breathes airplanes” and who did skywriting, flew at air shows and dropped ashes over the ocean for people whose loved ones were cremated. 

Matthews, the lone defendant found guilty by the jury, is to be sentenced Aug. 4.

In the news release, Duncan said Matthews partnered with Carlson to move cocaine and marijuana, belonging to the Sinaloa Cartel, from California to cities including Lexington; Louisville; New York; Charlotte, North Carolina; Atlanta; and Miami.

The statement said Matthews moved thousands of kilograms of cocaine and over 100 kilograms of marijuana to these cities and brought millions of dollars from the East Coast back to California to be handed over to the cartel.

Ward, who had no prior record, faced a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years if he had been convicted. Instead, he flew home to California a free man. 

Baldani said he went commercial. 

Andrew Wolfson: 502-582-7189; awolfson@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @adwolfson.