'GRANNIES' WANT JURORS QUESTIONED.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - A judge on Thursday postponed sentencing the Granicy grannies - three sisters convicted of illegally selling an ingredient used to make methamphetamine - to allow their attorneys time to talk with a juror.

At least one juror has contacted defense attorneys, who are seeking to delay sentencing so that they can talk to more jurors about their deliberations and about what impact, if any, an instruction by the judge had on their verdicts.

``It would be in the defense's best interest to further provide the court with points and authorities (legal references and precedents) regarding access to juror information,'' said Alison Bloom, attorney for Armitta Granicy. ``We believe this information is vital (to) appellate issues and issues that would make ... a motion for a new trial more viable.''

Under state law, identities of jurors are confidential.

Lancaster Superior Court Judge David Mintz was set to rule Thursday on two defense motions, one asking to delay the sentencing and the second to disclose jurors' names. After emerging from a half-hour conference in the judge's chambers, Bloom asked for more time.

Deputy District Attorney Robert Sherwood objected to the delay, saying the defense had had enough time to prepare for the sentencing.

``Our position is the defense had six weeks to file motions and address the issues that needed to be addressed prior to today,'' Sherwood said.

A Lancaster jury in April convicted Granicy, Ramona Beck and Dorothy Manning of illegally failing to get identification and license-plate numbers from customers who bought crystallized iodine - a horse medicine as well as a chemical used in manufacturing methamphetamine - at their store.

The three Lancaster grandmothers, all in their 60s, face up to six months in jail for each misdemeanor count they were convicted of. The jury acquitted Armitta Granicy's husband.

The Granicys own Granicy's Square feed store in east Lancaster. Beck and Manning operate a gift boutique at the store.

Sherwood said Thursday that he received information from state narcotics authorities that the defendants have purchased ``significant amounts'' of iodine - 27 pounds of it in January.

Sherwood asked the court to order the defendants not to sell any iodine and to provide an accounting of the store's iodine purchases.

Bloom countered that her clients have not sold any iodine since March.

``Until he provides the defense with proof other than a piece of paper that they are selling iodine, he hasn't the authority to ask this,'' Bloom said.

Mintz declined to make any type of order or impose any conditions prior to sentencing.

After the verdict last month, Bloom blasted Mintz for instructing jurors to disregard a section of the law that exempts sales of ``tincture of iodine or any topical solution containing iodine'' worth $100 or less.

Bloom said at the time that Mintz became ``the 13th juror'' and ``directed a verdict in the case.'' Bloom maintained that Armitta Granicy did not know what ``tincture'' meant and believed she was exempt from the law because all the store's iodine sales were under $100.

Sherwood at the time disputed Bloom's claims, saying that specific section of the law was not applicable to the case, and that whether Armitta Granicy knew what tincture meant was irrelevant.

``They have a right to file motions. I don't believe the judge did anything wrong. I believe they had a fair trial, and the verdict is justified,'' Sherwood said after Thursday's hearing.

In the motion requesting access to juror information, Bloom wrote: ``It is imperative that the identities of the jurors be disclosed so that inquiry may be made into the process by which an apparently deadlocked jury so abruptly became a jury willing to convict.''

``Through informal discussions counsel had with jurors after trial, counsel learned that many members of the jury rendered their verdict of guilty based on the jury instruction given to them during the jury deliberation process,'' Bloom wrote.

The nine-man, three-woman Lancaster Superior Court jury convicted Granicy, 60, of one count of failure to prepare a bill of sale for iodine.

Beck, 62, was convicted of two counts of failure to prepare a bill of sale, and Manning, 67, was convicted of two counts of failure to prepare an iodine bill of sale and one count of selling more than 8 ounces of iodine to an individual in a 30-day period.

The jury acquitted Robert Granicy of two counts, Armitta Granicy of a second count and Beck of a third count.