A relative of a member of the jury that convicted a black trash hauler of raping and murdering a white fashion writer on Cape Cod says the juror lied when he testified recently that he had no racist feelings toward blacks.
Delainda Julia Miranda, the great-aunt of Eric "Billy" Gomes, said yesterday that she often heard Gomes, a dark-skinned Cape Verdean, make disparaging remarks about blacks similar to those he allegedly uttered to other jurors in 2006 as they deliberated the fate of Christopher M. McCowen.
"Billy has talked about black people. . . . He doesn't like black people," Miranda, 74, said in a phone interview from her home in Mashpee. She quoted him as saying: "They're lazy, they don't want to work. . . . All they do is rob people, kill them, and deal drugs."
Miranda said she detailed Gomes's alleged racist remarks in a sworn statement taken by McCowen's lawyer, Robert A. George.
She first made the comments to Truro author Peter Manso after Gomes testified last week at an extraordinary hearing in Barnstable Superior Court to determine if possible racial bias among jurors necessitated a new trial. Manso relayed her statement yesterday to Judge Gary A. Nickerson in a hand-delivered letter.
Gomes could not be reached for comment at his home in Falmouth.
Days after the jury convicted McCowen in November 2006, three jurors came forward to allege racial bias during deliberations. Two quoted Gomes as saying he did not like blacks because they cause trouble and that he considered himself white and preferred to socialize with whites.
Those allegations and others prompted Nickerson to interview Gomes and 11 other jurors individually at a hearing, the first phase of which occurred Jan. 10 and 11. Taking the stand, Gomes denied making disparaging remarks about blacks or holding views that blacks are prone to crime.
"I don't feel that way," he told Nickerson.
Miranda attended the hearing but missed Gomes's testimony. But after reading news accounts, she approached Manso in the courthouse to say that her nephew lied.
Manso, who is writing a book about the case, wrote the judge, George, and Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe to say that Miranda "has unequivocally told me that Gomes testified falsely to the court at the hearing" and during jury selection, when he was asked about potential racial biases.
The Globe obtained a copy of the letter.
Miranda, who described herself as the sister of Gomes's grandfather, said in an interview that she did not want to cause Gomes trouble but that she could not keep silent, given the stakes for McCowen, who is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
"I would like to see this man get a fair trial," she said.
George, who yesterday called Sam Sommers, a Tufts University psychologist, to testify on the third day of McCowen's continuing hearing to seek a new trial, declined to comment about the statements or whether he filed an affidavit. The hearing is to resume Feb. 1, and the judge may address Miranda's statements that day.
O'Keefe, who contends that McCowen got a fair trial, declined to comment, except to say that Nickerson sealed court papers submitted by George.
Judicial officials and legal specialists have said it was virtually unheard of for a judge to question jurors about their verdict months afterward. Now that Miranda has accused Gomes of lying on the stand, it is unclear what Nickerson will do.
Robert M. Griffin, a criminal defense lawyer and former Suffolk County prosecutor, said Nickerson will be hard-pressed to ignore the statement because it goes to the heart of the allegation that a juror was racially biased.
"There is no way he could say this evidence is irrelevant," Griffin said.
That could mean that both George and O'Keefe will want the judge to question Miranda on the witness stand: George to have her back up her allegations and O'Keefe to probe whether she might have ulterior motives, Griffin said.
Miranda said she was prepared to take the stand when she attended the hearing at which the professor testified. She said that Gomes has made racist remarks over the years and that she urged him to set aside his feelings when he told her he had been summoned for jury duty and might end up on the McCowen case.
"The black thing was brought up again," she said. "I said, 'Billy, if you get chosen, please give this guy a break.' "
Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com.
