The cost of sequestering the jury in the Dominique Heaggan-Brown trial has topped $30,000.
Milwaukee County Clerk of the Circuit Court John Barrett broke down the $31,929.44 total on Thursday.
Hotel: $20,023.00
Transportation: $2,000.00
Weekend Activities: $3,328.60
Meals: $6,577.84
This is the first time a jury in Milwaukee County has been sequestered in more than 20 years.
We also learned that the sequestered jury had the televisions removed from their hotel rooms.
They were only allowed to use their cell phones for calls in the presence of a court deputy and were not allowed not to browse the web.
Barrett says this was not accounted for in the clerk’s office budget, and his department will have to make cutbacks in spending or possibly cut open positions to pay for the sequestration costs.
The jury was sequestered for nine days. The location of their hotel and the activities they took part in over the weekend were not released for security reasons.
