Kessler Chooses to Wait in Court as His McKay Bay Jury Keeps Deliberating Through Lunch | Pt 31

Kessler's McKay Bay jury is still out, and the judge gives him a choice: wait in the courtroom or go back to lockup. He picks the courtroom. Robert Lee Kessler, a blind 74-year-old, is on trial in Hillsborough County, Florida, for first-degree murder and abuse of a dead human body in the death of Stephanie Crone-Overholts. She came to Tampa from Erie for a fresh start, and her remains surfaced in McKay Bay. The State carries the whole burden of proving who killed her. The jury got the case after the closings on Day 6, and it has been back in the deliberation room since this morning. Nothing in this stretch is about the evidence. It is about how a court runs the hours while twelve people decide a man's case. The judge is straight with Kessler: "So technically we're not in the actual trial itself," but it is the afternoon session, and he promised to bring him out. Kessler can "either hang in here with us or go back to lockup." Then the jurors come in, get two choices about lunch, and the judge makes sure they do not have to talk it over in front of anyone. Here is what I want you to weigh. Kessler sits at the defense table in jail orange, and before the jurors walk in, the question in the room is "You good with the cuffs and everything?" The law is supposed to keep a jury from seeing a presumed-innocent man dressed and restrained as a prisoner. Our feed shows a flag while the jurors are in the room, so I cannot tell you what they saw. To the judge's credit, he asked Kessler first, put the choice on the record, and told him, "I want you to be sitting next to your lawyer." Watch it and decide whether that was enough. We are not the jury. Only the jurors decide. --- WATCH WITH JUSTICE 0:00:00 What this video is, and a preview 0:00:11 Intro 0:00:49 to 0:02:29 - Video starts: The judge brings Kessler out and lays it out plainly: the jury is still deliberating, and he can wait in the courtroom or go back to lockup. Kessler picks the courtroom, and the judge seats him beside his lawyer for whenever the jury walks in. 0:02:29 to 0:03:42 - Watch the defense table as the jurors are about to come back in. Kessler is in jail orange, the cuffs are checked, and he is asked to stay quiet for a couple of minutes. Ask yourself what a jury sees from the box. 0:03:42 to 0:04:57 - The judge puts two choices to the deliberating jurors: lunch brought in while they keep working, or no lunch and keep working. He starts to send them back so nobody has to talk it over in front of the court, and the answer comes right back. 0:04:57 to 0:05:49 - With the jurors out, the judge orders lunch, tells Kessler he can talk freely with his lawyer, and puts Kessler's choice to stay on the record. Court goes into recess to wait on the jury. --- COMPLETE CASE COVERAGE justiceisaprocess.com SUBSCRIBE for daily trial coverage and hit the notification bell so you never miss testimony. JOIN to unlock the Case Notebook powered by NotebookLM, where you can chat with the evidence, ask questions about testimony, and go deeper than any comment section allows. CASE BACKGROUND REPORT: https://justiceisaprocess.com/fl-v-ro... The full case overview: the charges, the timeline, the people involved, and the legal questions this trial raises. State of Florida v. Robert Lee Kessler. Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, Hillsborough County, in Tampa, Florida. Robert Kessler is charged with first-degree murder and abuse of a dead human body in the death of Stephanie Crone-Overholts, whose remains were found in McKay Bay in November 2021. He has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent until the State proves each charge beyond a reasonable doubt. Only the jurors decide. LATEST ARTICLE: https://justiceisaprocess.com/desk-20... PLAYLISTS AND RESOURCES Website: https://justiceisaprocess.com/coverag... Full Trial Live Broadcasts:    • FL v. Robert Kessler: Full Trial Live Broa...   No Breaks Edition:    • FL v. Robert Kessler: No Breaks Edition   Case Story Trial Podcast:    • FL v. Robert Kessler: Case Story Trial Pod...   Key Moments and Testimony:    • FL v. Robert Kessler: Key Moments & Testimony   Commentary:    • FL v. Robert Kessler: Commentary   Subscribe for Daily Coverage:    / @justiceisaprocess   FAIR USE AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE This content is produced under Fair Use (17 U.S.C. 107) for news reporting, criticism, and educational purposes. We provide transformative commentary on public court proceedings, advancing public understanding of the judicial process through timestamps, analysis, and educational context. #JusticeIsAProcess #McKayBay #RobertKessler #StephanieCroneOverholts