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Former 710KIRO host Mike Webb trial update:
The insurance-fraud trial of former radio talk-show host Mike Webb ended in a mistrial Thursday after a judge determined the jury had been tainted by seeing Webb handcuffed by police following an outburst outside the courthouse a day earlier. According to a Seattle Police Department report, police found Webb acting "irrational and irate" on James Street and Second Avenue after testimony in his trial concluded just before 1 p.m. Wednesday. A woman told police that Webb had threatened to kill himself if found guilty and that he had access to a gun in his house, the report stated. Webb was not arrested, but he was handcuffed and taken to Harborview Medical Center for a mental-health evaluation. After the incident the court learned that several jurors had seen or heard about the incident, and on Wednesday ordered the jury to stop deliberating and go home for the day. Webb was in court Thursday but sat with his head on the table during the entire hearing. In court, Webb often appeared agitated, angrily disagreeing with the prosecutor's statements, launching into narratives on the stand even when the judge and attorneys told him to stop speaking, and temporarily refusing to testify Wednesday because a Seattle Times photographer was taking his picture. Webb told the judge after that outburst that he had received death threats during his time on the air and wanted to keep his image out of the public's view.
The insurance-fraud trial of former radio talk-show host Mike Webb ended in a mistrial Thursday after a judge determined the jury had been tainted by seeing Webb handcuffed by police following an outburst outside the courthouse a day earlier. According to a Seattle Police Department report, police found Webb acting "irrational and irate" on James Street and Second Avenue after testimony in his trial concluded just before 1 p.m. Wednesday. A woman told police that Webb had threatened to kill himself if found guilty and that he had access to a gun in his house, the report stated. Webb was not arrested, but he was handcuffed and taken to Harborview Medical Center for a mental-health evaluation. After the incident the court learned that several jurors had seen or heard about the incident, and on Wednesday ordered the jury to stop deliberating and go home for the day. Webb was in court Thursday but sat with his head on the table during the entire hearing. In court, Webb often appeared agitated, angrily disagreeing with the prosecutor's statements, launching into narratives on the stand even when the judge and attorneys told him to stop speaking, and temporarily refusing to testify Wednesday because a Seattle Times photographer was taking his picture. Webb told the judge after that outburst that he had received death threats during his time on the air and wanted to keep his image out of the public's view.