From David Shuster earlier:

After the judge dismissed the elderly art curator from the Libby jury panel for having “contact with media coverage,” the judge asked both sides about how they would like to proceed. The defense asked that the court NOT bring in the next alternate and have to start from the beginning. Instead, defense attorney Ted Wells asked the court to continue deliberations with the eleven remaining jurors because to do otherwise would be “prejudicial.” Prosecutor Fitzgerald argued that the court should bring in the alternate, have 12 members on the jury, and start the deliberations all over from the beginning, noting that the panel has “only deliberated two and a half days so far.” The positions of the prosecution and the defense sound counter-intuitive until you consider the following: The alternate juror (who is first in line to join the panel) took extensive notes during the trial. Moreover, her body language was openly hostile to the defense during closing arguments. As Ted Wells delivered an emotional argument that Libby made “honest mistakes not deliberate lies” during the investigation, this juror sat with her arms crossed. She also clenched her jaw and rolled her eyes. During prosecutor Fitzgerald’s final rebuttal in closing arguments, this woman relaxed and smiled as Fitzgerald went through the evidence for a final time and mocked the defense for describing the prosecution as “madness.” This first alternate is in her late 40′s/early 50′s and works as a government lobbyist for the insurance industry. None of the possible feelings about the alternate juror were brought up during today’s hearing. Instead, the arguments all focused on whether the jury should have to start from the beginning and ignore the 18 hours of deliberations conducted so far. In the end, the judge ruled that the jury should continue with eleven. He brought the 11 jurors into the courtroom and explained why the one elderly juror was being dismissed. Then, the judge asked the eleven remaining jurors to raise their right hands and pledge not to come into contact with news coverage of this case. The judge then asked if the panel was ready to continue their deliberations. They nodded affirmatively… and the judge then sent them back to the jury room to continue.