A juror in the Nancy Workman trial says the primary reason she and her fellow jurors acquitted former Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy Workman was because they were not persuaded Workman intended to do anything wrong.

"It seemed to us that there was no attempt to hide anything," said the juror, who preferred to remain anonymous.

During the trial, special prosecutor Mike Martinez emphasized the fact that Workman signed daily time sheets as proof that she knew exactly what she was doing, but the juror and other jurors took it another way — that Workman was not trying to cover anything up.

The time sheets circulated to at least two other county employees weekly.

The fact that she was unconvinced as to intent, however, didn't mean the juror believed Workman was without fault.

"I think she made some mistakes, but there were a lot of people making mistakes," the juror said. "The whole situation was very ripe. It stank."

Several witnesses, including former acting Mayor Alan Dayton, had testified that policy violations similar to Workman's were common. He said if every such instance were prosecuted, "you would have a jail full of the county commissioners and the County Council — and me."

Of all the numerous witnesses who testified in the six-day trial, the jury reserved perhaps their greatest respect for Terry Fortner, a payroll clerk who refused to process the paperwork of a proposed hire when she found out what the applicant would be doing — working at the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Valley — while being paid from health department funds.

"She (Fortner) literally risked her job," the juror said.

As for the prosecution's chief witness, former chief administrative officer David Marshall, "I think he remained as loyal to the mayor as he possibly could. He's honest."

Nevertheless, conflicting testimony convinced the juror that there was at least reasonable doubt regarding Marshall's recollection of a meeting with Workman, in which she described the duties of two county employees.

Marshall said Workman misled him in the meeting.

The jury deliberated almost nine hours, both Wednesday night and again Thursday morning, before returning its verdict, longer than most court observers had predicted.

"I think most of us were saying, 'We really need to make a decision on this,' " the juror said. "As long as we were still talking and sharing ideas, we kept going."

Also contrary to expectations, the juror said the fact that the charges were felonies, with a possible combined punishment of 20 years in prison, did not enter into the jury's decision.

"We really didn't consider the punishment," she said, "per the judge's instructions."

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