Just days after a jury found Leroy Lovern Meeks guilty of attempted murder, the case took a turn after his attorney learned about the jury forewoman’s claimed ties to State Attorney Angela Corey.

The forewoman had made an aggressive case for Meeks’ guilt to her fellow jurors, according to a motion for a new trial filed by Meeks’ attorney after the August verdict: She told other jurors she had been a pre-law student, so she understood the legal requirements of a guilty verdict, the motion said. She slipped in a juror question about Meeks’ bond status, which could hint at prior arrests, the motion said. And over lunch, she referred to Corey as "Aunt Angela."

On Thursday, Circuit Judge Mark Borello ordered a new trial in the case, finding the forewoman gave false answers when questioned about Corey and other matters. Meeks’ guilty verdict is erased.

Meeks’ attorney, Patrick Megaro, declined to comment, and the State Attorney’s Office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Court documents show that after the August verdict, one of the jurors contacted Megaro, telling him he felt unsettled by what happened during deliberations. He thought Meeks was not guilty.

The six-person jury had initially voted 4-2 to acquit Meeks, the juror said, according to the motion for a new trial. But then, the juror told the lawyer, the forewoman made her case for Meeks’ guilt.

Another juror backed up the story, according to the motion, saying the forewoman referred to "Aunt Angela" over lunch.

If not for the forewoman, Meeks wouldn’t have been found guilty, the two jurors said, according to the court document, which redacts the names of the jurors.

The forewoman said, according to a transcript, that she wasn’t related by blood to Corey, nor was she particularly close to her — but they were both members of an Arab-American club.

INFO NOT DISCLOSED

Back in 2014, Meeks was arrested after a man claimed Meeks had shot at him. In court, Megaro argued the witnesses had motives to lie and contradicted their earlier statements, according to his motion for a new trial.

Meeks went to trial in April, but the jury couldn’t reach a conclusion. So he faced another trial in August.

During jury selection, the attorneys asked prospective jurors if they had been the victims of a crime, and if they had family or close friends in law enforcement. Defense lawyers and prosecutors use the question-and-answer time to guess which jurors are most likely to be in favor of the opposing side and to remove those jurors from consideration. For example, Megaro struck one man who said his daughter was previously a prosecutor in New York, a transcript showed. Each side was allowed to strike six jurors.

The prospective juror who would eventually become the forewoman never disclosed she had previously filed a domestic-violence injunction that said she was verbally abused, held at knifepoint, raped and robbed of her guns. She also said neither she nor any friends or family had ever been a victim of a crime.

And she never said she knew Corey through the Salaam Club, a group of Syrian and Lebanese families.

The defense attorneys didn’t strike her selection, and the trial began.

Jury deliberations lasted three hours, and according to jurors’ testimonies recounted in court documents, most of the jury wanted to acquit. But the forewoman was adamantly in favor of conviction. The jurors said she even slipped in a question without consulting other jurors. The question asked if Meeks had been denied bail, which if answered could have revealed past arrests. She denied slipping in the question, according to a transcript, saying it was another juror who wanted to know.

HER EXPLANATION

The jury forewoman had her own explanation for why she didn’t reveal she knew Corey or that she had been a victim of a crime.

She told Judge Borello that she wasn’t close to Corey, and she wasn’t even a fan of hers during her failed re-election bid. And she argued the rape and false imprisonment weren’t violent crimes.

Borello disagreed.

He found that her answers were inconsistent and not as trustworthy as the other jurors, and though he didn’t mention any repercussions for the forewoman, he ruled Meeks deserves a new trial.

Andrew Pantazi: (904) 359-4310