Curt Nickens told fellow jurors Wednesday, the fourth day of deliberations in the Oregon standoff trial, that he felt he had been the target of a "personal attack'' and wasn't comfortable with that.

The day before, Nickens had been summoned to U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown's chambers and asked to sit at a table with a court reporter, a prosecutor and two defense lawyers. He was asked whether anything had changed since he told the court that his prior work for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management would not impair his ability to be a fair and impartial juror. Nickens told them no.

But as he returned to the jury room, he surmised that Juror 4, with whom he had been "butting heads'' during deliberations, had sent some type of note to the court that targeted him, and led to the judge's questioning of him. The day before Nickens had seen Juror 4 tear a piece of paper from his notepad and hand it to the presiding juror.

Nickens didn't share the matter with other jurors until Wednesday morning when debate over the conspiracy charges got heated.

"That's when I told them I received a personal attack, and I wasn't too comfortable with that happening. Apparently nobody else knew about it , and they were surprised,' 'Nickens told The Oregonian/OregonLive. "Juror 4 just admitted to it, and I looked over and said, 'I knew it was you.' ''

About an hour later, the judge's deputy told the jury to halt deliberations. The full jury was led into Courtroom 9A. There, Judge Brown told everyone that Nickens was being dismissed from the jury. She said a matter came up that necessitated it, but it wasn't anything "untoward'' that Nickens had done. He would be replaced by an alternate juror.

Nickens said he was expecting to be dismissed after his Tuesday meeting with the judge, and wondered why it didn't occur that night.

"But I was thinking if they remove me, they should also remove Juror 4 for his ulterior motives,'' Nickens told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Only after he was dismissed, did Nickens grab his cell phone. For the first time in five weeks, he said he was able to check the news coverage of the trial.

He did so immediately. That's when he saw a photo of Juror 4's note, questioning Nicken's ability to be impartial, contending he had said at the start of deliberations, "I am very biased.''

he question that Juror 4 posed to the court about Juror 11 on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016, on the third day of the initial jury's deliberations in the federal conspiracy trial.

"It was more of a 'WTF' kind of moment. That was completely out of context,'' Nickens said. "I was livid. I still consider it a personal attack with underlying ulterior motives.''

At the outset of deliberations, Nickens said he stayed quiet for about 20 to 30 minutes as jurors started to talk about the trial and the evidence they saw and heard.

"When somebody asked me what I thought, I did say, 'hey look, I see we're all in here from different backgrounds, different characteristics, different lifestyles. I told them from my experience with the Department of Corrections, I can see where my opinion would be seen as very biased. That they would assume the worst of me.''

He said he didn't remember actually citing his past employment with the federal land management agency at that point, but he didn't keep his federal BLM firefighting work a secret either. It came up several times in small talk, Nickens said.

"I was very critical of some of the defense's evidence, and I saw certain things that others did not see, regarding the conspiracy charges,'' Nickens said. "We were knocking heads, three or four of us in that jury room.''

Nickens said he was most struck by a prosecutor's argument that the defense case - partly resting on the contention defendants were at the refuge in an effort to stake claim to it under an adverse possession principle - actually proved the government's case.

"Adverse possession basically tells you government employees were not allowed in the refuge by its own meaning,'' Nickens said. "I took that more to heart than anyone else.''

Nickens said he believes the fact that Juror 4 sent the judge a note about him, days after allegedly hearing him make any such remarks, made him suspect he did so purposely to do "a little end-run around me, and the rest was history.''

Juror 4, who also talked to The Oregonian/OregonLive but did not want his name used, said he waited to send the note to the court, because he wanted to give Juror 11 time to show he wasn't biased.

Some of the other jurors had asked Nickens if he thought he could be impartial because of his prior work experience. During deliberations, Nickens said he attempted to show the jury panel how he was clearly not biased, because he was significantly ticked off by defendant Jeff Banta's demeanor and testimony on the witness stand.

"My correction officer instincts in me really boiled,'' he said. "The next break, I had to walk up and down the halls to calm down. He was very confrontational, seemed to be exchanging looks with his lawyer.''

Yet Nickens said he could not find Banta guilty of the federal conspiracy trial. "If I was going to be biased, he'd be the one person I'd find guilty, but I couldn't based on the evidence,'' he said.

When the judge in court announced to the full jury that she had to dismiss Juror 11, Nickens said it took all his energy to resist reacting.

"You don't know how much I wanted to turn around and give somebody a good, hard glare,'' Nickens said. Juror 4 was seated in the row behind him, to his right in the jury box.

But he said he didn't out of his tremendous respect for Judge Brown, "you know how she keeps things very controlled.''

"In a world of Trumps and Clintons, I say 'Judge Brown for President,'' Nickens added.

Usually a jeans and T-shirt type of guy, Nickens said he wore ties most days to court.

"I was honored to be there,'' he noted.

Juror 4 had also alleged in an email to The Oregonian/OregonLive that Juror 11 discussed evidence in the jury room that was never presented at trial.

Nickens said jurors were discussing the video of the police shooting of occupation spokesman Robert "LaVoy'' Finicum's white truck on Jan. 26. Defendants Shawna Cox and Ryan Bundy were seated in the back seat, and Cox took a video.

"When people were talking about the Shawna Cox video, I had to stop them and ask them have you seen the aerial footage associated with that,'' Nickens said. The aerial footage was never entered into evidence in the case. "I didn't tell them what had happened. I told them when this was all over, that's one thing you need to do, is watch that video.''

Before he was dismissed fully, he met one-on-one with the judge in her chambers. Nickens asked if she could relay to Ammon Bundy's defense lawyer, Marcus Mumford, his admiration.

"I tell you if I had speech impediment like he did, I don't know if I could do the job he did,'' Nickens said, remarking about Mumford's stuttering. "I asked Judge Brown to shake his hand for me. I admire him for what he's dealing with and how he handles it.''

Nickens said few goodbyes and left the courthouse quickly Wednesday.

"I was so anxious to get the hell out of there,'' he said. He didn't even give in his parking voucher. "Don't worry about it I'll send it in the mail,'' he told a court official.

Nickens realized it was his last day in Portland, a 41/2 hour drive from his home in Baker City.

He's worked as a corrections officer for the Powder River Correctional Institution in Baker City for more than 20 years. During summers in college, he worked for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, as a range tech and firefighter in the Vale District. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Eastern Oregon University, where he majored in architecture, with a minor in range land management. He's divorced with two boys, ages 19 and 15, and a daughter, age 16.

Before heading home, he stopped at Willamette National Cemetery to place American flags around his father's headstone. The next morning, he drove home, and went to work at the prison by late afternoon.

Once Nickens learned of the verdict Thursday afternoon from the reconfigured jury, he was surprised that the across-the-board acquittals were returned after only about five hours of discussions.

"I was hoping people would grind the evidence a little longer, at least wait until Monday,'' he said.

Later Thursday, Nickens said he posted on his Facebook page: "Well-played Juror 4. Well-played.''

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian