(This is from The New York Post via Yahoo!)

-----

Sunday July 29 02:52 AM EDT

BOOTED MOB-SEX JURORS SAY CASE IS WEAK

By AL GUART

Two jurors in the sex-saturated Gold Club racketeering trial in Atlanta have been dismissed after complaining that prosecutors haven't presented strong enough evidence to win a conviction, The Post has learned.

Strip-club owner Steven Kaplan is charged with using free sex to get professional athletes to patronize his club. They also claim he funneled cash from the club to New York's Gambino crime family.

The sensational trial, in its third month of prosecution testimony from mob figures, strippers and sports stars such as former Knick Patrick Ewing and Atlanta Brave Andruw Jones, has been hit by a spate of jury woes.

Last Monday, one of five female jurors asked to be taken off the panel. She told Judge Willis Hunt she thought prosecutors had presented a lackluster argument and used dubious witnesses to make their case, sources said.

The feds have used the often lurid testimony of killers, torturers, fraudsters and even a pedophile to try to convict Kaplan, who has no criminal record, of being a Gambino associate.

After a private hearing in Hunt's chambers, all parties agreed to release the woman juror, who was sent home and ordered not to talk about the case.

Earlier, on July 18, a male juror was dismissed after he was heard to say he wanted to vote for a conviction but was unhappy with the government's case.

Although prosecutors and defense lawyers declined to comment on the two excused jurors, members of the defense team smiled when they returned to court after the woman juror was dismissed. Meanwhile, Hunt earlier excused a third, alternate juror because he missed days of testimony because of a heart ailment. Twelve jurors and three alternates remain on the panel.

-----