Prosecutor seeks access to jurors in grenade trial
Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bvwv/News/6340/
The U. S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas wants to talk to jurors who acquitted a Bella Vista man of a charge of illegal possession of hand grenades.
Wayne Allen Kallstrom was acquitted April 2 after a two-day trial in U. S. District Court in Fayetteville.
A motion to speak with the jurors was filed Wednesday by the office of U. S. Attorney Bob Balfe.
Christopher Plumlee, an assistant U. S. attorney, said lawyers are prohibited from speaking to jurors without consent of the court in the Western District.
The motion is the first step in complying with that rule, Plumlee said. He wouldn’t comment specifically on the case.
Plumlee said the questions typically asked of jurors are intended to help lawyers do a better job in the future. He said that he spoke with jurors after trials when he was an assistant state prosecutor, but not since he’s been with the U. S. attorney’s office.
“ In my experience many jurors are more than willing to share that with prosecutors or defense attorneys, depending on who asks, ” Plumlee said.
“ It doesn’t happen a lot, but it’s not outlandish, ” he said.
While it’s a common procedure, Plumlee said he couldn’t recall the last time his office made such a request.
Kallstrom was arrested after a November 2006 burglary call to a business in Johnson, where police found about 40 ammunition boxes.
The boxes were filled mostly with bullets for a. 223 caliber rifle; six hand grenades and components to make 14 more. A tear gas grenade, blasting caps and other explosive materials were also found.
Kallstrom said he was storing the boxes for his brother, who died in a Michigan jail in 2007.