Juror Dismissed At CIA Leak Trial

A federal judge avoided a potential mistrial in the CIA leak case Monday by dismissing a juror and sending the other 11 back to continue deliberating the fate of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said the juror had seen or read something over the weekend about Libby's trial.

"What she had exposure to obviously disqualifies her," the judge said.

He did not say what the juror had seen but characterized it as a misunderstanding.

Walton originally feared several jurors were tainted, raising the specter of a mistrial in the politically charged case. Libby is accused of lying and obstructing the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.

After questioning jurors behind closed doors, however, Walton said the remaining seven women and four men were not affected. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald Walton asked the judge to call on one of two alternates, both women, who sat through the trial and are on standby.

But Walton said that would require deliberations to begin fresh and said he didn't want to "throw away 2 1/2 days" of discussions. Instead, he sided with Libby's lawyers and allowed deliberations to continue with 11 jurors — something allowed under federal law in such situations.

CBS News Justice Department reporter Deridre Hester reports the jurors were reminded to be vigilant about staying away from information about this case.

"They should continue with their deliberations and I will emphasize again the importance of not having contact with any outside information," Walton said.

The woman who was dismissed from the jury is an art history expert and scholar who formerly served as a curator of prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She was also the only juror who did not wear a red T-shirt as part of the jury's Valentine's Day greeting to the court.

"There is no way to tell which side this helps until, of course, we get a verdict," says CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen.

"The worst scenario would have been a mistrial because the whole jury was tainted," Cohen says. "The second-worst case would have been had the jury been forced to start deliberations from scratch with an alternate juror taking the place of the dismissed one. So while this is a wrinkle, it's actually about the best possible outcome given what happened."

Cohen warns, however, that "if Libby is convicted, we may see this little problem emerge again on appeal."