Photo by Joel Ebert

We’re just back from the Robert C. Byrd United States Courthouse, and the news is that the Don Blankenship jury has gone home for the evening … But not before they asked if they could listen again to the recordings of Blankenship’s phone calls that were played by prosecutors during the trial.

Sometime after 4 p.m., U.S. District Judge Irene Berger apparently received a note from the jurors. By about 4:40 p.m., prosecutors, defense lawyers and Blankenship — along with the media and families of Upper Big Branch miners — had gathered in the courtroom. Court security brought in the jury and Judge Berger came in at about the same time.

Judge Berger then informed the parties that she had received a note from jury foreperson Pam Carte that asked, “Can we listen to the CDs? Can we leave at 5 p.m.?”

After conferring briefly, the jurors then agreed that they would go ahead and recess for the evening then, rather than waiting until 5 p.m.

Judge Berger said that she would arrange for the jurors to be “provided a means to listen to the CDs.” Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Ruby suggested that court technology staff could provide the jurors with equipment, or that the government could provide a “clean” laptop — without other files on it — that the jury could use to listen to the telephone calls, which are in MP3 or WAV format, depending on the particular call.

Defense lawyer Bill Taylor said that Blankenship’s team would prefer that the court provide the equipment, rather than the prosecution. Judge Berger said she would inquire of the court staff and see if that could be done.

Jurors are due back tomorrow at 9 a.m. to resume their deliberations. Judge Berger said there was no need for attorneys in the case to report to the courtroom until they hear something from the jury. “I will simply call you if I hear something substantive,” the judge told Taylor.