A miscommunication among a juror, a bailiff and a judge caused a midafternoon scramble Thursday in the Wake County courtroom where Ryan Patrick Hare has been on trial for two weeks.
Hare, 19, is accused of masterminding an odd plot to end the life of Matthew Silliman, an Apex teen who had been a rival for the romantic interest of his one-time girlfriend, Allegra Dahlquist
At 3:45 p.m., several hours after jurors got the case, there was a knock on the jury-room door. Lawyers scrambled. The courtroom came to order. Media typed up quick — and false reports–of the pending announcement for website followers. Jurors filed into thejury box, and Judge Paul Ridgeway told the forewoman that he understood they had reached a verdict.
Dahlquist, 19, who had a relationship with Hare and Silliman, was accused of first-degree murder in the case but pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder a month before Hare’s trial as part of a plea arrangement with prosecutors. Her sentencing will occur after the trial.
Aadil Khan, 19, also was accused of first-degree murder in the case and brokered a plea arrangement with prosecutors in which he was allowed to plead guilty to second-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder if he agreed to cooperate. But on the day Hare’s trial was to begin, prosecutors told Ridgeway that they wanted to revoke Khan’s plea. In a court document, the prosecutors argued that Khan’s memory of events had changed.
