GRAND JUNCTION — A juror accused of lying about her experience with domestic violence, triggering a retrial in a murder case in Grand Junction, has been sentenced to 10 days in jail and fined $10,000.
The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported that 56-year-old Marilyn Charlesworth was sentenced Friday for contempt of court and must report to jail July 12.
A judge ruled in April that Charlesworth “willfully failed” to accurately answer a questionnaire before jury service in Michael Blagg’s 2004 murder trial.
Charlesworth answered “no” when asked whether she or a family member had ever been “involved” in domestic violence. In 2013, she publicly told the Grand Junction City Council that she had been a long-time victim of domestic violence.
Blagg was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison for the 2001 shooting death of his wife, Jennifer Blagg.
A judge later determined that Charlesworth lied when she said she had never experienced domestic violence because she wanted to sit in judgment of Blagg, whose new trial is scheduled for April 2016.
The Blaggs’ 6-year-old daughter was reported missing at the same time her mother disappeared and is presumed dead.
No charges were filed in her disappearance.
