DOUGLAS COUNTY, GA (CBS ATLANTA) -
Douglas County District Attorney David McDade told CBS Atlanta News that a juror visited the man convicted of murdering Bobby Tillman while he was in jail.
McDade said juror Brenda Grissom went to the jail and spoke with Tracen Franklin, 20, after she and other jurors could not reach an agreement on his sentence.
CBS Atlanta News obtained the videotaped conversation between Grissom and Franklin. The face-to-face conversation lasted about five minutes Tuesday.
"I was not giving up, and I stood very firm, and I kept throwing the evidence at them that we were presented and I am serious. I really, really fought for you," Grissom said.
Grissom and one other juror were holding out to sentence Franklin to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
CBS Atlanta News spoke to Grissom by telephone Saturday. She said she never intended to create a problem by visiting Franklin while he was in jail.
"The judge dismissed the jury," Grissom said. "He told us we were free to talk to whoever we wanted to. No one told me I couldn't go to the jail."
Grissom also said she stands behind the evidence in her decision to hold out. "We don't know who threw the fatal blow," Grissom said.
The other 10 jurors wanted to sentence Franklin to life in prison without parole. Since they could not come to a unanimous decision, the judge declared a hung jury.
During the jailhouse conversation, Grissom told Franklin she wanted it to be known that she stood up for him.
"If you get a chance to tell your mother maybe you can describe to her who I was and she could know that somebody did stand for you in that room," Grissom said.
Grissom then asked Franklin if he knew her niece, Kenyatta, who wanted to say hello. Franklin asked Grissom to tell Kenyatta hello as well.
Franklin then thanked Grissom for "considering everything."
Grissom told Franklin she would be in the courtroom that Friday.
Grissom kept her word and sat behind Franklin's family when Judge William McClain sentenced Franklin to life in prison without parole for his role in Tillman's beating death.
Monique Rivarde, Bobby Tillman's mom, said she heard about the jailhouse visit after the sentencing Friday.
"It was justice today and it was justice for Bobby, but this with the jury," Rivarde said.
She said the Grissom's jailhouse visit was what the trial is about: Accountability.
"Only she knows why she did it and like I said, everything dark comes to light and she will be held accountable for whatever reasons she did that," Rivarde said.
Rivarde said she wants everyone to remember why they were in court; the murder of her son, Bobby Tillman.
She then said that if Grissom did anything wrong, she was confident the district attorney would take care of it.
Grissom told CBS Atlanta News that said she took her role as juror to heart.
"I realize there were two lives we were looking at," Grissom said. "And I took it very seriously. The evidence didn't prove to me that he should go to jail for the rest of his life."
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