An extraordinary hearing probes role of race in Cape murder trial

(Jennifer Longley for The Boston Globe)

Christopher McCowen arriving at the courthouse this morning.

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

A member of a Cape Cod jury that convicted a black trash collector of murder in 2006 testified today in an unusual court hearing that her fellow jurors had made racially insensitive remarks during the trial.

Roshena Bohanna, who is black, said she had heard the remarks, both directly and indirectly, before jury deliberations, during deliberations, and even when the jury was sequestered at a hotel.

She said that she had gotten into such a heated confrontation with a white juror over one remark that the jury foreman had to call for a break in the deliberations.

Barnstable Superior Court Judge Gary A. Nickerson has called jurors back into court to probe whether the remarks allegedly made during more than a week of deliberations tainted the verdict against Christopher M. McCowen, who was convicted of murdering fashion writer Christa Worthington at her Truro home.

"This is an extraordinarily unusual situation, when a court makes inquiry of jurors after the delivery of a verdict," the judge told the jurors at the outset of the hearing this morning. But he said the need for the hearing had become apparent after Bohanna and two other jurors signed affidavits alleging that the remarks were made.

McCowen was convicted in November 2006 of raping and killing Worthington, who was white. Her secluded Truro house was located on his trash-hauling route.

Worthington, who had lived in Paris and New York before moving to the beach town, was found stabbed to death in January 2002, with her 2-year-old daughter, Ava, clutching her body, smeared in blood but unhurt.

McCowen, who is serving a life sentence in prison with no possibility of parole, is attending the hearing. The judge allowed his handcuffs to be removed so he could assist his attorney with court papers. His legs remained shackled.

The hearing is expected to last two days.

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