Over a year ago, Christopher McCowen was found guilty by a Massachusetts jury of the 2001 rape and murder of New York fashion writer Christa Worthington at her home in Cape Cod. The case meandered, unsolved, for three years — "This is a tough one," police told New York in 2002, "it's a really, really tough one" — before the Hyannis garbageman was arrested. Now, in what is being called a "highly unusual move," jurors are being called back into court, and a new trial may be ordered. At issue is whether racial bias played a factor in the jury's decision to convict McCowen, who is black, of the murder of Worthington, who was white. Apparently, several of the jurors made racially biased remarks about McCowen before convicting him, and therefore, his lawyer says, his right to a fair and partial jury was violated. The jurors are expected to testify January 11 and 12.

Related: The Single-Mom Murder [NYM]
Earlier: Christa Worthington's Killer Convicted