It took only a few minutes for a group of jurors to decide on a Not Guilty verdict for a Uintah Basin man on trial for 3rd Degree Felony Tampering with a Witness or Juror. As an investigator for the Uintah County Attorney’s Office, Jayson L. Chamberlain was present at the Summit County Courthouse in December of 2017 when potential jurors were being considered for the Flatlip, Flatlip, Rondeau trial that at that time ended in mistrial. Seven months later, Chamberlain was charged in Summit County’s 3rd District Court with one count of Tampering with a Juror for alleged interactions he had with the potential jurors in the lobby and within the courthouse. Charging documents stated that prospective jurors described Chamberlain as being ‘chit-chatty’ and talking about the jury process. Chamberlain entered a plea of Not Guilty to the charge on October 29th, 2018. His trial got underway this week on Tuesday.
Wednesday morning
focused on witness testimonies including Chamberlain himself. After closing statements, the jurors were sent to deliberate
at 1:47pm
and returned to the courtroom after only a few minutes with their verdict of Not Guilty that was read
at 2:06pm
.
