A Small, Somber Crowd Greets ‘not Guilty' Verdicts in John Wiley Price Trial With Smiles, a Few Tears

There was no weeping and no jumping for joy.No gasps or cheers that would draw the wrath of U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn, who'd forewarned those huddled in her 15th-floor courtroom on just a few minutes' notice at the Earle Cabell Federal Building to take the verdicts in stride."If you have any response," Lynn admonished, "you'll take it outside."As the jury's foreman, dressed in a lavender shirt and gray slacks, stood to deliver the verdicts against Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price and his assistant, Dapheny Fain, a hush blanketed the courtroom.Price, dressed in a coffee-colored suit, a crimson vest and trademark, hand-painted bowtie, twitched his lips several moments before the jury rendered its decision, a rare hint of nervousness, perhaps, given the gravity of the utterance he was about to hear.Still, he was unflinching. Crowned with his famous cornrows, he stood between his lawyers, Shirley Baccus-Lobel to his left and Chris Knox to his right.Not even a long, pronounced series of "not guilty....not guilty....not guilty....not guilty...not guilty....not guilty...not guilty....not guilty....not guilty....not guilty...." aroused those in attendance.  Continue reading...