DuPont’s lawyers, in court filings this week, have insisted that Juror No. 54 was “visibly in tears” after the judge questioned her about a note he received from the jury raising concerns about her willingness to deliberate. In moving for a mistrial, defense lawyers wrote, “the circumstances surrounding the jury deliberations had an unconstitutionally coercive effect and a mistrial should be granted.”

But, in a Monday order allowing DuPont to file its mistrial motion under seal, U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus of the Southern District of Ohio cast doubt on whether the juror was crying, stating he took “strong issue with the unsupported claim.”