i know when i talk about the george ryan trial, to anyone living outside of illinois it sounds like this "BLAH BLAH BORING BLAH." and you're a little right. if you ever sat in on the testimony during the trial, you might have fallen into a deep REM sleep caused by the hour-long discussions of license plates and real estate contracts. totes boring.

but now! look! shit has gone and gotten all totally hysterically bad ass in the form of a group of petulant, immature jurors!

first, and less interesting to me, is that the tribune exposed one juror as having been convicted of a felony back in 95 when ryan was secretary of state. that is bad, and could potentially cause a mistrial, but most likely the juror will just be dismissed and an alternate will step in.

second, and too funny, is that all the jurors hate each other with the burning passion of a classroom full of 13-year-olds:

The potentially explosive development came on the heels of earlier signs the Ryan jury was close to exploding.

They come and go together, but during the day reporters have seen the Ryan jury gathering in smaller groups. The judge told them to cut it out Thursday.

"You have at least two factions in this case that apparently aren't speaking to each other," said CBS 2 Legal Consultant Irv Miller. "They're deliberating in different rooms, in different places."

In a hallway Wednesday, CBS 2 heard one juror say to several others, "We've got to stop with all this name calling."

"I expect you to treat your fellow jurors with dignity and respect," Pallmeyer said in a stern, three-paragraph note sent in response to two notes received from the jurors in recent days.

they've got cliques! the judge is sending them notes to express her concern! they call each other names. it's JUST. LIKE. HIGH SCHOOL. except, um, these are a bunch of middle-aged illinoisians who should be discussing oh, only, the MOST IMPORTANT TRIAL THE STATE HAS EVER SEEN. get it together, fools.