Some jurors were behaving badly at Sheldon Silver’s corruption trial in Manhattan federal court on Friday.
A woman nodded off during crucial morning testimony — and remained in dreamland for a full 12 minutes — while an alternate was more interested in doodling than paying attention.
The woman’s catnap came as lobbyist Brian Meara was testifying about a meeting he arranged between the former Assembly speaker and a Glenwood Management bigwig to talk about legislation the real-estate company wanted passed in Albany regarding rent regulation and tax abatements.
She dozed with her head slumped forward from at least 10:03 a.m. to about 10:15 a.m., when she woke with a start and started stretching her wrist.
The alternate, meanwhile, spent much of the morning sketching a full page of cartoon-like faces in pen in his juror notebook, paying no attention to the testimony.
Apparently, the judge, prosecutors and defense team were too absorbed in the testimony to notice the nap break and doodling.
Silver’s corruption trial has already lost one member of the panel.
Raquel Morel, who had been Juror No. 4, begged off the case this month so she could get back to work helping the homeless — after learning she would receive her salary for only the first 10 days of the expected six-week trial, court records show.
Morel sent a note to the judge last week saying her boss at Care for the Homeless felt it would “have a bad impact” if she were away for more than a month.
“It will be a hardship for me,” she said.
Morel also noted that none of the other workers at the nonprofit knew how to do her job.