Waiting for the Tom Petters verdict

I'm joined by several other colleagues in journalism, anxiously awaiting final word from the jury that will ultimately decide Tom Petters' fate.

We are assembled in the jury 'assembly' room at the federal courthouse in downtown St. Paul. We're all updating stories, blogs and twitter feeds, talking to our respective newsrooms about the plan for the all-important moment when the jury returns a verdict.

The trial started more than five weeks ago. For a time, there was a stream of regulars, members of the public, who showed up out of curiosity about what was happening in the high profile trial of a high profile Minnesotan. Now, the reporters are the only regulars left.

The conversations range from how long we think it will take the jury to come to a decision to the latest on Tiger Woods' crash drama.

I want to make sure I don't miss a thing, so I bounce from the jury assembly room to the 7th floor where the courtroom and Judge Richard Kyle's chambers are located.

In fact, I just chatted with Judge Kyle briefly. As of 3:15 pm, he says he hadn't heard a "peep" from the jury. He also explained a procedural issue. If the jury returns a guilty verdict, there would be another hearing that follows about the forfeiture to the government of various Petters' properties.

I also check the court file for any new filings from attorneys.

Any glimpse of an attorney or other court official related to the case gets a head turn from the reporter crowd. The response so far has been 'no word yet.'

Meantime, I'm ready to go for a live Skype feed from inside this room as the verdict is read. The court has arranged the verdict to be fed to us via closed circuit television. That means instantaneous verdict reporting. The KARE 11 live truck is up and running. It is a multi-media world and we're prepared on several fronts.

Day three of deliberations and the wait continues...

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