Jurors moving on, confident in their verdict

James Paton, Rocky Mountain News

Saturday, April 21, 2007

David McCanless, juror No. 9, said he was convinced Joe Nacchio was guilty of "hubris," but as he pulled up to the courthouse Thursday morning, he still questioned whether the former Qwest CEO had committed a crime.

"I was not 100 percent sure," McCanless said in an interview outside his Arvada home.

Ultimately, he and the other jurors in the Nacchio trial put aside their emotions, disregarded testimony about his son's attempted suicide and his trip to eastern Kentucky to help the poor, and they narrowed their focus.

"Mr. Nacchio is a very bright man," McCanless said. "At some point he had to get it. The man did not fall off a turnip wagon and land in the Qwest boardroom. He had to know he was committing a crime. He was too smart to not conceive of that."

By Thursday afternoon, the jurors, sitting in a sterile 10th- floor room overlooking the post office, came to an agreement on the final 19 counts. The first 23, McCanless said, were relatively simple.

Doug Stoneman, juror No. 8, was the first to walk into the courtroom after the group made a firm decision. The maintenance supervisor at a Longmont Butterball plant found his seat, the one farthest from Judge Edward Nottingham, who days earlier had brought the jury Red Bull energy drinks to provide a boost.

A couple of the jurors who followed him in had expressed serious reservations up until the closing moments of deliberation.

"I had just reminded a couple of other jurors that we didn't create this situation," the Milliken resident said. "He did."

McCanless, 56, who runs a small electronics business out of his house, explained the last holdouts this way: "They were so concerned with making the right decision," he said. "They were so scared of making a mistake. We said, 'That's fine and dandy, but point to some facts. Show us what makes you feel that way.' "

They couldn't. But McCanless stressed the back and forth was healthy.

As Nottingham began to read off the counts, McCanless closed his eyes, began his deep breathing exercises and "went to my happy place," he said.

The judge read 23 consecutive not guilty verdicts, but the jury, unlike everyone else in the room, knew that was about to change. Nacchio was convicted on the next 19 counts of insider trading.

McCanless said Nacchio's attorneys failed to convince the jury with a couple of witnesses. Qwest founder and Denver billionaire Phil Anschutz and the Rev. Giles Hayes, an abbot from Nacchio's home state of New Jersey, testified that Nacchio wanted to quit in January 2001 because his son had tried to kill himself.

The argument: If Nacchio knew Qwest stock was about to tumble he could have left the company that day and cashed out.

"We certainly had to dismiss it," McCanless said. "At best it was ancillary."

Stoneman, 53, agreed some testimony the defense presented "didn't carry much weight."

Danforth Weatherly, the jury foreman and a United Airlines pilot, politely declined to comment on the case after opening the door of his Arvada home.

"It has been an education," he said.

McCanless, eager to try to get his now struggling business back on track, said he went to his favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner Thursday.

The deliberations proved difficult. But the jurors said they are moving on, confident in the verdict.

"I'll be able to sleep at night," Stoneman said.

patonj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2544