Rollins' defense lawyer alleges jury misconduct, judge errors

SNOW HILL — The defense for Cecil County State’s Attorney Ellis Rollins III is alleging that jurors engaged in “misconduct” to reach “what was essentially a compromise verdict” during his trial last month, according to court records.

That Worcester County Circuit Court jury found Rollins guilty of indecent exposure and disorderly conduct and acquitted him of two mirroring charges on Dec. 9 after a two-day trial.

The allegation of jury misconduct is one of several arguments made by Rollins’ defense lawyer, Cullen M. Buke of Ocean City, in his two-page motion for a new trial that he filed on Dec. 19, less than two weeks after the jury returned those verdicts.

The court document also alleges that Worcester County Circuit Court Judge Brian Shockley gave improper jury instructions — by inclusion and by omission — and that he failed to ask potential jurors their “feelings about sex, nudity and masturbation” during the jury selection phase of the trial.

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