Learned this afternoon that the judge has received six notes. There were four alternates, i should say, initially. We are now down to one. So if there are any more serious issues, this could be an interesting as we move forward to see what happens. Back to you guys. Yeah, laura, a lot of developments. You mentioned misconduct. Did the judge indicate exactly what that misconduct was . Reporter no, she didnt, ama. I can tell you there were a series of closed sessions today. We knew something was up this morning because each of the jurors that appeared were being called in separately to the courtroom. The attorneys were there, the judge, and the two defendants as far as we know, and we saw some of the jurors who used the elevator actually going in separately. It appeared that they were being talked to or questioned by the judge privately, and then came this announcement that there would be an open Court Hearing. And we were seeing family members of the victims start to show up. They told us they actually received phone calls from the liaison that they have with coyould definitely, quote, want to be there for it this afternoons hearing. The other note about what might be the misconduct, the judge did go overall the admonitions that she initially gave, the initial jury, she spent some extra time on a couple of them and even added one. One was about what they do during their lunch hour. Theyre supposed to be sequestered, theyre not supposed to be going far from the courthouse and not talking to anyone or each other or one another about this case. The second was that she added an admonition, and that was that these jurors do not talk to the news media or receive any inquiries from the news media. Were not sure what that was about. We know those of us who have been here have been very careful not to approach or talk to any of the jurors. Laura, before you go, did the defendants show any reaction . And ill ask the same for the family members who got the phone call, because just imagine the scene after this whole ordeal, and then three weeks of deliberations, you get that phone call, you think theres going to be a verdict this afternoon and then, no, were just swapping jurors out for reasons that we cant really tell you. But what have been the reactions in the courthouse . Reporter well, first of all, the defendants, both of them dan and ama and max harris were seated at the defense table. From what we could see, i did not see a lot of reaction. I know max harris especially has had some supporters in the courtroom. He did, as he has often done, looked at them and smiled as the jurors are walking in. In terms of what was announced about the jury, i did not see any visible reaction. As far as the family members, again, not a lot of reaction. I did talk with a couple of them outside of court, and they were actually relieved, i think, that it wasnt a mistrial that was declared. That the deliberations will continue. And at least at this point they are hoping there will still be a verdict. But, of course, as i said, we are down to one alternate at this point. Laura, before you go, right behind you it looks like theyre setting up for some sort of news conference. Are we expecting officials to come out and give us any explanation . Reporter i think thats Wishful Thinking on our part. Normally in the afternoon, the defense attorneys, especially do come out and talk, but the judge was pretty clear this afternoon that she does not want the attorneys on either side making statements, especially about what happened this morning in closed session. Okay. So were ready if somebody does come out and speak. Laura anthony reporting live. Well, the jury in this trial was made up of nine women and three men. Defense attorney tony serra had said this about the jury. Its a beautiful crosssection of all races dominated by women, we have age, we have the wisdom of older people, the exuberance and idealism of younger people. Newsroom reporter Melanie Woodrow joins us live now. Reporter larry and ama, we are out here waiting for family members to come out. You can see of course a number of Television Cameras out here and reporters. We are hopeful some of the family members will come out and speak. You heard my colleague Laura Anthony saying she had spoken one on one with some of the family members outside of the courthouse and they seemed somewhat relieved that there was not a mistrial, perhaps that being some good news in this. But deliberations will have to begin again, but that they will not have a mistrial and that the jurors that will be stepping in for those three jurors w406ho h been excused will be able to pick up deliberations again. We are outside waiting for family members, to hear from them, how they feel about what we learned this afternoon. As soon as we have that, well bring it to you live. Live in okd, Melanie Woodrow, abc7 news. Melanie, thank you. Lets walk you through how we got to this point in the trial. The trial seemed kind of unlikely, but the fire happened on december 2016 during a friday night. Electronic music show at the warehouse. Prosecutors announced charges against almena and harris on june 5th of 2017, a settlement was reached on july 3rd, 2018 when both almena and harris entered a no contest plea. Almena would have gone to prison for nine years. Harris would have been in prison for six years. That deal did not last. Family and friends of the victims asked the judge to reject the deal, saying the punishment was not harsh enough and the judge followed through with that rejection. Now, that judge is not the judge who was overseeing the trial current lip. A new judge was appointed in december of last year. And Opening Statements for the trial began april 30th of this year. And then we have the new development today. Attorney david lynn is here with us to talk about the case. David, thanks for coming in today. How unusual is it to have three jurors replaced weeks into the deliberation process . I know we had more alternates than normal as well. Yeah, its not unusual, but its not usual, if i may say. I think judge thompson showed a lot of foresight when she decided to pick six alter natna knowing this would be a long drawn out process, deliberations could last awhile. Jurors get repl nciey have work issues. You try not to replace jurors, but it happens. Especially a trial of this length, replacing jurors was obviously foreseen by judge thompson. I will agree three in one fell swoop is a bit unusual so it does lead to speculation as to what exactly happened that caused judge thompson to think its in the best of interest justice to replace all three. Give us the spectrum of reasons that you could be replaced from your perspective. Sure. And i will say just for everyone, i was one of the prosecutors on the ghost ship case. I left the office and retired to open my own private practice in San Mateo County in march of this year. I have no special insights of this case since i left. We have very good attorneys running. I have no special knowledge. Everything im talking about is just whats in the Public Record and through my experience as a Trial Attorney for the past 18 years. Uncommon. In my experience, being an attorney for 18 years, i did 50 trials to verdict. I had numerous times where jurors were replaced. It could be something as innocuous as they just refused to deliberate. They will sit there with their hands folded and they will report that comes in from one of the other jurors saying that, you know, larry is refusing to deliberate. Hes crossed his hands, hes refused to talk to us, hes sitting, reading the newspaper. Interesting you point to me as the one thats going to be difficult. Thats the probably unlikely given were three weeks that would have happened the first couple of days. Sometimes because of the stress of the case. This is a very emotional case. This is a very high profile case. You have 36 people who tragically lost their lives. Tempers could be short. That could be what happened. With three jurors, we were talking before we went on air, i thought you had a good guess that it could be those three jurors did something they were not supposed to do. Maybe they got together over the weekend at a restaurant and decided we can figure out this case better than anyone, and that is absolutely forbid en. If that happened, that could be the reason they were dismissed. We want to pause for just a moment because i believe a friend of max harris is actually speaking right now. So lets take a live listen. Im an oakland artist who supports max harris. I dont believe that he should be in there and, yeah, i believe that every day that max is in there, we are avoiding the root of the problem. You know, risking this happening in my community again. I dont think my heart can take that. So, yeah. Are you worried that with the new jury coming in, deliberations starting again, more time could be a bad thing . Um, i think, you know, this is something this is such a massive issue, you know. Its not surprising to me that its taking some time, you know. I think a lot of heart and care should be put into the situation. It shook our community. It took some Beautiful People away from us, you know . And i think in having max and derrick in jail, its not solving the problem. Were not doing those People Justice here. And every day that we continue to go through this, were continuing to not give those People Justice, you know. Have you talked to max and how is he doing . I know this has to be yeah, i dont know. Im having a hard time answering any other questions really. I thank you guys for all your time, too, and dedication and documenting this really monumental matter. So yeah. Thank you. A friend of max harris who just came up to the podium and started speak. Lets get back to david here, the expert. In this swayituation, just to g us the attorney view, because these people have not been invoed teeare coo eow that were alternates, they have not been involved in any of the deliberations, right . They were probably just sitting at home and got a phone call and weluly. They basically are ordered these alternate jurors sat through the entire trial. They were there from the day they were selected as alternates. They heard Opening Statements, all the evidence presented, and closing statements after the jury after the trial concluded they were instructed by the judge to probably go home, to go to work, be ready to come in if needed. Today they got the call. Im sure it was a surprise to them as it was to anybody. Now they will come in and they will have to start the deliberations over again starting with practically a new jury. But this jury can do whatever they want within the instructions given them by the judge. So they may take three weeks. They may take one week. They may take five weeks. They have to start all over again. One last question before we let you go. Laura said that they received the judge received six notes from jurorayg they may have a potential problem. I assume with regard to scheduling. As an attorney, how much would that scare you . You mean they judge was asking the jurors, if you have any scheduling conflicts or anything because now you have these three new people coming, we have to restart the whole thing. Six notes seems like that might be a lot to the layman. That is could be a cause for concern. Because like i said, judge thompson had the foresight to pick six alternates which is unusual in a normal trial, you will have one to three alternates. Six was a lot and i think judge thompson was wise knowing this case was going to take awhile. Youre now four months in and you probably told this jury, this pool of jurors, youre going to be here four to five months. I dont know how long she told them. That is a concern. You are starting to get to the point, hey, we signed up for four to five months, we have lives, we have jobs, we have havent gotten paid in in a while. We have to go. The judge is going to do everything she can. Shes a very experienced judge, to accommodate their needs and still allow them to deliberate fully and fairly. I think youre right, it is a concern. Youre now at a point where people are going to say ive got other things going on. If you lose just a few more jurors and you dont have the alternates to come in, then thats a mistrial. Just use three. All right. Thank you, david, for coming in. We appreciate your time today. And we have more on this story online, on our abc7 news app and well have the latest here on abc7 news right after monday night football. That will be approximately 8 00, just depends on how long that game goes. Coming up, a new twist with the suspect in a chilling attack that was caught on video. The man showed up for a Court Appearance in San Francisco today. Now there are new allegations against him. Well have what we learned about this case. We first brought you the story last month of a woman who had her home broken into and trashed. Hear from the victim as she comes face to face for the first time with the person accused of all the mayhem. And how does this sound, locking away students phones while theyre at school. The Bay Area High School thats trying this new approach and how the students are reacting to it. Im spencer christian. Weve had fairly dreary sky conditions in some locations today but its about to turn much sunnier and much warmer. Ill have the accuweather so that early retirement we planned. Its going ok . Great. Now im spending more thki. Im introducing them to crab. Crab . They love it. So, you mentioned that that money we set aside. Yeah. The kids and i want to build our own crab shack. Ahhh, youre finally building that outdoor kitchen. Yup with room for the whole gang. See how investing with a j. P. Morgan advisor can help you. Visit your local chase branch. It is back to school time for thousands of students across the bay area,nd in san mateo for the first year ever, a high school is going phonefree. The largest Public School in the country to lock their devices for the entire day. Abc7 News Reporter kris reyes tells us why teachers said they had to do it and how teachers or students, rather, are reacting. It has a magnet on the top. This is a base where they hit it in the morning. Reporter phone slides in, the student keeps the pouch, but a teacher makes sure its locked until the final bell rings. I really think its about being present and engaging in the adult thats trying to teach you. Your peers that might be in your small group. Reporter every student at San Mateo High School is assigned the yonder pouch. Like a textbook, theyre responsible for it year round. The s. F. Based company is on a mission to create phonefree spaces. Teachers here say they want the same thing. Fearful students are too attached to their phones. I likened it to a student who is dealing with tobacco or drug addiction. They need to have this in their hands, they need to be engaging with it, or they dont feel whole. Reporter every classroom has the unlock being device in case of an emergency or should a student need to access their phone. Weve gotten all 1700 students unlocked within a matter of minutes. Reporter so this is phone usage per day before yonder. How many messages spend on your phone . How would you describe the numb surprg. Xcessive. A little too much. Reporter so despite the initial panic from students, at least these four admit there are benefits to a phonefree school. I remember like sophomore year, i tried to get my folders up every day, check my folders constantly. You were constantly comparing yourself to other women on your feed and it definitely takes a toll on yourse selfimage. Reporter they say they see the difference. People were talking, eating lunch together and socializing. Thats what i was not seeing enough of when the phone usage is at its worst. Reporter kris reyes, abc7 news. That is an interesting experiment. A lot of schools want to go for that. Its also the first day of school in San Francisco. 57,000 ski 57,000 kids said goodbye summer. Sad. Hello classroom. Theyre going to learn. Lear. Abc7 newss reporter Amy Hollyfield has this story. Reporter she gave the kids a pep talk before they headed in for their first day of school. Are you ready to get good grades . Yes. Are you ready to take over San Francisco . Reporter she brought the motivation while many parents dealt with the emotions of a new school year. I cried this morning because shes in the 5th grade and my baby is growing up. Reporter kids seemed mixed about being here, glad to see their friends, but sad to say goodbye to summer. Happy to be at school because i kind of do miss school a little bit, but i also dont at the same time, but i do a lot. Reporter teachers kept the mood fun and the energy level high. The mayor also had a serious focus as this year gets underway, keeping kids safe as they make their way to and from school. We also want to make sure that people are aware that there are kids who are out there going to school, walking and biking and taking muni, so be careful, slow down. Reporter the mayor says theyve added more crossing guards this year at schools. They are also going to be adding more infrastructure to help separate pedestrians from cars. This as we all need to do our part. Be aware and slow down. In San Francisco, Amy Hollyfield, abc7 news. The start of the year meant students got to enjoy a campus that went through a long make ore. Abc7 news was at Presidio Middle School in San Francisco. Their new outdoor and athletic facilities, work has been going on for five years. Actually took longer than expected. Salesforce and the benioff fame donated most of the money for the project. Mark benioff telling abc7 the school yard was contaminated with asbestos, and that had to be taken to a toxic dump so that increased the cost as well as the time it took to complete all of the facilities. But hopefully clean and fresh and new now. All right. Well, some nice weather finally that we had over the weekend, spencer. Fresh we hadar. New and fresh. Cooler, right. Its going to turn warmer again in a couple of days. Its ever changing. Heres a live look at doppler 7. We had some clouds near the coast. Sunny skies inland, and the 24hour temperature change is sort of a mixed picture. Notice how many locations especially inl