> What was the crime being prosecuted?

Stealing a flashlight and a radio from a cop car, basically. The funny part is, that's the bit that I'm "fairly sure" the guy was really guilty of. But they also threw in some hinky claim about him stealing a chainsaw and a shotgun and some other stuff from a truck that was parked nearby (this was all at the officer's house). And for the most part, none of us on the jury believed he stole the chainsaw and the shotgun... in fact, we mostly think there never was a chainsaw or a shotgun. Because this guy was on foot, drunk, in the middle of winter, and was somehow able to carry a flashlight, a radio, a shotgun, and a chainsaw off to some safe hiding spot? From which they were never recovered? But he was found wandering on the side of the road later that morning with the radio and the flashlight? Hmm... so yeah, where did the gun and the chainsaw go???

Anyway, basically we thought they tried to "pile on" this guy with some made up bullshit, and that also probably helped us make the decision to acquit him, even if he was guilty of the radio and flashlight bit. And that played in with the prosecutor acting like such an ass to the guy and made the defendant seem like the victim.

Funny thing: after the case was over, they asked the jurors to hang around for a while (voluntarily) and talk to both the defense attorney and the prosecutor about how we reached our decision. And I actually told the prosecutor "dude, you were a total dick to that guy and made yourself look really bad by doing so". He said it was kind of personal with him and that guy, because the guy is a repeat offender and he's tried him like a dozen times. Now whether or not that supports a belief that they tried to set him up on some extra bogus charges I'm not sure, and I didn't ask about that. But man, oh man, did I learn that weird shit goes on that most people never see or hear about.

And of course there was the mysteriously malfunctioning dash-cam that didn't record any audio when the first officer approached the guy when he saw him on the side of the road, and the mysteriously missing 911 audio recordings of the guy supposedly keying up the radio and talking into it, etc., etc. And the fact that the cop car that the stuff was stolen from was left unlocked, and was un-monitored for like 11 hours from the time the officer got home from work until he got up to leave for work the next morning and found the radio and flashlight missing. And the absolute lack of physical evidence (fingerprints, footprints, eyewitnesses, anything) outside of him being seen carrying the missing radio and flashlight (he claimed he found both lying on the side of the road).

Like I said, there were serious holes in their case to leave room for "reasonable doubt" even though the guy was "probably" guilty.

"He said it was kind of personal with him and that guy,"

Completely unethical and possibly malicious prosecution. Amazing.

If you think this is an isolated case, you vastly overestimate humanity. Stay away from the criminal justice system.

Yeah. The whole process was rather eye-opening.

> they asked the jurors to hang around for a while (voluntarily) and talk to both the defense attorney and the prosecutor about how we reached our decision

My jaw is on the floor.

Here in Blighty, a jury deliberates in absolute secrecy. Revealing jury deliberations, even after the verdict, is a serious offence.

Here in the US that kind of thing generally varies from state to state. But as I understand it, in most states, once the verdict is rendered and the jury has been discharged, the jurors are free to discuss the case with anyone.