(JAMESTOWN, RI)— As Washington, D.C., once again found itself hammerlocked by mother nature on Friday, Judge Reggie Walton did the sensible thing and called a recess in the federal district court trial of Lt. Gov. Faoa Aitofele Sunia and Sen. Tulifua Tini Lam Yuen.

The case had gone to the jury late Wednesday, but by Friday when Judge Walton sent the jurors home no decision had been reached on the multiple counts, and the District of Columbia had been seized by the worst winter storm in ninety years.

Since the beginning of the trial almost a month ago, both sides—but not the jury— had been made aware that Judge Walton would be on a long-scheduled vacation break in the Caribbean this week.

The goal was to have proceedings completed and a verdict delivered by the time he departed. That didn’t happen. Judge Walton was faced with the choice of turning the case over to another federal district court judge for acceptance of the verdict or recessing the court for the period of his absence.

Judge Walton had expressed concern over the fact that there was such a lengthy history of fine legal points in the pleadings and motions involved in the case that another judge would be unduly taxed to address certain questions from the jury. And the jury had a right to having a judge available to answer their questions. Phone connections to where he would be on St. Maarten were uncertain.

Enter the blizzard, stage south. Federal offices all over D.C. were closing down early on Friday as the storm approached. Some would stay closed until Tuesday. By Saturday morning the city was basically shut-down beneath twenty-plus inches of wet heavy snow, still falling. Even veteran Chicagoan, President Barak Obama called the storm “Snowmageddon”. Judge Walton called recess until Tuesday, February 16, after his return. (Monday, the 15th is a federal holiday, Presidents Day.)

This may not be good news for the defendants, who now must wait another uncertain week in deep-winter Washington, but it must be a break for the jurors. After nearly a month of arcane immersion in facts that have nothing at all to do with them, they get some time off. Perhaps they will return refreshed and ready to pick up their task once again to determine the fate of these two men whose immediate future has been placed in their hands.

Connie and I got out of Washington on the Friday 10:25 a.m. Amtrak train headed north. It was full. All trains south and west of Union Station had already been canceled, and by the time we boarded our train all trains headed north (the only direction left) had been sold out. By the end of the day all trains would be canceled. It felt strange to be fleeing a blizzard by heading north. Soon the airports, too would be de-icing planes and shutting down.

I found myself worrying about Judge Walton and his wife— if their plane south would get off and they could get to spend their week in tropical sunshine. He deserves a break as well.

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