A juror in a high-profile New Jersey murder trial was dismissed last week after a post appeared on her Facebook page that suggested she found the situation funny.
“Sitting on the jury LMAO [laughing my ass off],” the post read, according to Inside Edition.
The unidentified juror, who was described by NJ.com as “a 21-year-old Middletown resident,” was dismissed on Feb. 7 from the murder trial of Liam McAtasney, who is accused of killing 19-year-old Sarah Stern in December 2016.
McAtasney has pleaded not guilty, and on Thursday his lawyer argued that the Facebook post was enough for the judge to declare a mistrial.
The judge denied the request.
The dismissed juror told NJ.com that the Facebook comment was written by her younger sister, who shares the account.
The website was unable to confirm that and said the account lists only the juror’s name.
The juror also said she deleted the comment as soon as she saw it and that the case has taken a toll on her emotionally.
“A lot of people kept telling me I looked like (Stern) and everyone involved was my age and so it was a lot to handle,” the juror told NJ.com. “I started having really vivid nightmares about it and I couldn’t take it anymore. It was too much.”
Prosecutors said McAtasney asked his roommate Preston Taylor to dispose of her body by throwing it over a bridge.
So far, Stern’s body hasn’t been found.
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