Knicks coach Isiah Thomas isn’t getting any love from the jury in his sensational sexual harassment case, a bombshell note from the panel revealed yesterday.
As a second full day of deliberations drew to a close, the seven jurors sent out a message signaling they all agree Thomas and Madison Square Garden subjected Knicks executive Anucha Browne Sanders to a hostile work environment.
The jury also hinted they could hold Garden Chairman James Dolan responsible for firing Sanders in retaliation for making harassment complaints.
The note from the jury forewoman said the panel is unanimous on eight of the nine charges in the case, but divided over whether to make Thomas dig into his own pocket.
The note indicated that a lone holdout juror is blocking their decision on whether Thomas should be forced to pay punitive damages to Sanders.
“We have answered eight of nine charges on the verdict form. We are stuck six-to-one on charge # 4 and cannot seem to move forward,” the note read.
Sanders greeted photographers outside with a smile after Manhattan Federal Judge Gerard Lynch instructed the jury to go home and “sleep on it.”
Meanwhile, an uncharacteristically tense looking Thomas tried to force a grin as he left the courthouse.
The verdict sheet directs the panel to address only the punitive damages for Thomas, question No. 4, if they’ve found that both he and the Garden intentionally discriminated against Sanders based on her sex.
It also instructs the panel to skip questions six through nine altogether if they found that the Garden did not fire Sanders in retaliation.
The stunning note, penned at 4:40 p.m., was the first communication of the day from the jury, which has spent a total of 16 hours in deliberations since Thursday.
Lynch yesterday weighed whether to take a partial verdict in the case, but ultimately decided to send the jurors home for the night and bring them back fresh this morning.
“It’s not going to be welcome for the jury, but that’s the breaks for them,” Lynch told lawyers on both sides while the jury was out of earshot.
The judge called the panel into the courtroom and said, “We all appreciate how hard you’ve worked to reach a verdict” and decide “facts that have been hotly contested.”
“Sleep on it,” Lynch said. “Take one last shot at trying to figure out whether the jurors can reach agreement. Maybe you can. Maybe you can’t. I realize it’s perhaps a hardship to come back at it again.”
An earlier note on Friday indicated the jury had already reached a unanimous verdict holding the Garden responsible for a hostile work environment.