HUNG JURY HAS FEMALE JUROR BEING INVESTIGATED FOR RELATIONSHIP WITH CONVICTED KILLER AFTER THE TRIAL

Holdout juror Katheryne Diop now visits murderer Devon Thomas frequently at Rikers Island.

The Bronx District Attorney’s Office is investigating whether a love-struck juror was so charmed by a killer that she orchestrated a hung jury to set him free.

Juror Katheryne Diop, 21, visited since-convicted murderer Devon Thomas, 28, more than 30 times in jail — and even supported him in court at his second trial — sparking a probe into the possibly justice-stalling relationship.
“She visits him [in jail] more often than his own family . . . He’s a very charismatic guy,” a sources report.
Diop voted to find Thomas not guilty of shooting aspiring basketball player Abdoul Toure, 24, in The Bronx in 2008 — prompting a mistrial last June.

Devon Thomas

She then began to visit Thomas at Rikers Island, where the two exchanged intimate banter and chatted in recorded phone conversations while he awaited a second trial, sources said.
The victim’s mother, Aissata Diane, claims the former juror grew smitten with Thomas’ bad-boy persona in court and tried to get other jurors to acquit him.
“He tried to start a relationship with her during the first trial for his own benefit,” Diane alleged. “She was hoping he could get off and [she could] start a relationship with him after he got out of jail.”
Thomas blew a kiss toward Diop and his family members after the guilty verdict.
Thomas would not grant an interview from Rikers. His attorney, Kyle Watters, said, “I can’t get involved in my clients’ social life. I’m just trying to get them out of jail.”
Diop, meanwhile, admitted to the many visits. She acknowledged that she had been questioned by investigators but maintained that she befriended Thomas after the trial because she believed he was innocent.
“I’m not the reason for the hung jury or the mistrial. I had no relationship with Devon before or during the trial. That’s impossible. I could get in trouble for that,” she said.
A second jury on April 15 found Thomas guilty of first-degree manslaughter and possession of a handgun.
Judge James Kindler sentenced him to 25 years.
Diop showed up in court to support him, shocking the victim’s mom, who lashed out at her.
“She messed everything up in the first trial. That girl should be in jail!” Diane fumed.
“She put us through a whole new trial. It was devastating to us. We had to relive it all over again. It was like [our son] dying again.”
Toure, an African immigrant, was shot dead in the Highbridge section of The Bronx during a neighborhood fight on Halloween 2008.