Disorder in the court

The corruption trial of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens could play a big role in determining whether Democrats get 60 votes in the U.S. Senate in this election.

If they do, Republicans won’t be able to stop things they don’t like. They won’t be able to prevent a final vote on bills by continuing to filibuster against them.

Good thing the trial wasn’t affected by one nutty juror.

Juror No. 4, otherwise known as Marian Hinnant, stopped the jury’s deliberations the day after they started. She said she had to go to California because her father had died.

No problem. The court understood and told her to take off a few days. When she wouldn’t return telephone calls later on, she was replaced by an alternate juror.

Good thing, ’cause Marian’s dad hadn’t died after all. Turns out she wanted to attend a horse race -- the Breeders’ Cup in Arcadia, Calif.

When she was finally hauled before the judge and asked to explain her bizarre behavior, she “started a long rambling story about horses, which included references to horse breeding, the Breeders’ Cup, drugs, President Ford’s son Steven and her condo in Florida being bugged.”

Good grief; what a loon.

Someone like this was chosen to be a juror in the most important political trial of the year.

Apparently, no one noticed in the long jury-selection process and trial THAT SHE WAS A COMPLETE NUT JOB.

What if this clown had hung on and thrown the case into a mistrial?

It’s like I always said: The only thing wrong with democracy is people.