A judge anticipates ruling by this coming Tuesday whether to grant a new trial for college basketball player Miya Giles-Jones of Fayetteville in the sexual assault lawsuit she filed against her former high school coach, Thurston Jackie Robinson.
This is in light of allegations that a juror asked one of the trial’s witnesses for a date during the civil trial back in May.
Giles-Jones testified that Robinson had rubbed his genitals against her through clothing, exposed himself, and fondled her in multiple incidents while she was a high school student and he was her coach. Robinson had coached girls’ basketball at Terry Sanford and E.E. Smith high schools, and coached travel basketball. He vehemently and emotionally testified that the allegations are untrue.
The jury ruled against Giles-Jones and her request for $2.5 million in compensation, saying she hadn’t provided sufficient evidence to prove her claims against Robinson.
At issue now: During the trial, Superior Court Judge Robby Hicks told the jurors to have no contact with the parties, yet one of the jurors is now accused of reaching out to one of Giles-Jones’ witnesses via a Facebook message within minutes of the witness’ testimony. The contact allegedly occurred on the second day of the four-day trial.
“Jurors are prohibited from any conduct that would interfere with ensuring a fair and impartial trial, such as having contact with the parties, talking with other people about the case, or allowing outside information or evidence to influence the jury’s decision,” says a court procedures knowledge base published by the University of North Carolina School of Government.
Separate from the civil lawsuit, Robinson faces criminal charges stemming from the allegations of Giles-Jones and at least two other young women, according to testimony at the trial in May and Cumberland County court documents. Robinson has a court appearance in the criminal case on Monday, July 8, and a hearing on whether to adjust the terms of his bail on Wednesday, July 10, the Cumberland County District Attorney Office said.
Robinson’s civil trial lawyer said Robinson’s bond may get revoked. He did not say why that might happen.
Robinson faces 10 counts of misdemeanor sexual battery, five counts of felony taking indecent liberties with a student, and one count of felony indecent exposure, CityView has previously reported.
‘Prettier in person’
Hicks held a hearing on Tuesday to investigate the details of what transpired between the witness, Sarrayyah Kennedy, and the juror, Arkeem Foster. Foster did not attend the hearing. Hicks said the Sheriff’s Office was unable to locate Foster to serve him a subpoena to summon him to court.
Kennedy told Hicks she had been a Facebook friend with Foster — and he had previously asked her for a date in 2017 — but she had never met him in person.
At the trial in May, Kennedy appeared before the jury in the late morning of the second day. On Tuesday, she said that when she got home that evening after her testimony, she saw on her phone that Foster had sent her a Facebook message around noon.
According to courtroom minutes that Hicks reviewed, that would have been during a period of about 10 minutes when the jury was sent out of the courtroom after Kennedy’s testimony.
“He did reach out, said he figured that that was me — he wasn’t sure if that was me. And then ‘prettier in person,’ all of that,” Kennedy said, describing the messages she said she received.
She said she cut off the conversation and deleted the messages. Kennedy did this because “I watch court shows all the time,” she said. Even though she was released from the trial, she knew it was still underway and Foster was to continue his jury service.
Kennedy told Tawanda Giles, mother of plaintiff Miya Giles-Jones, the next morning that Foster had reached out to her, she said. Michael Porter, who is Miya Giles-Jones’ lawyer, told CityView that Tawanda Giles contacted his office about Foster after the verdict. Porter said he immediately told Robinson’s lawyer, Jared Hammett, and told Hicks soon after.
Since then, Kennedy told Hicks on Tuesday, she has tried unsuccessfully to recover the deleted messages; she said she was willing to allow law enforcement experts to try.
‘He be a dead man’
On May 18, two days after the trial ended, Kennedy said Foster resumed sending her messages. She gave copies of those messages to the court. Since the trial was over, there was no longer any prohibition against them communicating. Giles-Jones’ lawyers — Porter and his co-counsel, Antonio Gerald — presented these messages to corroborate Kennedy’s testimony about the deleted messages.
“Good morning pretty lady,” Foster texted. He told Kennedy he was sorry that the verdict went against Giles-Jones and that the jurors had wanted to hear testimony from the other two girls that Robinson is accused of assaulting.
Foster recalled a photo that the jury saw, showing Robinson hugging Giles-Jones.
“That pic with hugging her from behind if that was my daughter he be a dead man,” the message says.
Eventually, Foster changed the subject and asked Kennedy whether she was single. Kennedy said she was grieving the death of her boyfriend and wasn’t interested in dating.
“Well let’s keep in touch and maybe we can go out sooner or later,” Foster replied.
Foster sent more messages on May 25 and June 22. “Good morning beautiful,” he said in two of them.
Will this lead to a new trial?
“I find her to be credible about the conversation,” Hicks said after Kennedy finished her testimony on Tuesday.
Porter argued for a new trial. Foster blatantly violated Hicks’ orders telling the jurors not to have any contact with witnesses, he said. There is no way to tell how Kennedy’s response when Foster first contacted her during the trial affected his thinking when the jury deliberated, he said.
“The truth is, we’ll never truly know how that affected his verdict. We just won’t,” Porter said. “But what the plaintiff is entitled to is a jury that follows instructions, and a jury that is unbiased completely. Not just a little bit, but completely unbiased.”
Robinson’s lawyer Jared Hammett, arguing against overturning the verdict, noted that during the jury selection process, no one presented the jurors with a list of the witnesses and asked if they knew any of them.
If this had been done, Hammett said, and Foster told the court he knew Kennedy, Foster likely would have been struck from the jury as potentially being biased in favor of Giles-Jones, daughter of Kennedy’s best friend.
Foster was able to put aside any bias he might have, Hammett said. “He knew the witness. It was a unanimous verdict,” he said.
Foster and the other jurors are laypeople who don’t know the rules of court, Hammett said. “Maybe this man understood ‘I shouldn’t be contacting the people that are still in the courtroom. But she’s gone away from the case,’” and he was allowed to talk to her, Hammett reasoned.
Foster’s statement that he would have killed Robinson, and yet he still voted in Robinson’s favor, also shows that Foster put aside any bias he might have had, Hammett said.
At the close of the hearing, Hicks told the lawyers he planned to issue a ruling within a week.
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at 910-261-4710 and pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
This story was made possible by contributions to CityView News Fund, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization committed to an informed democracy.
