Sandra Griffin, a self-proclaimed "Law & Order" fan and a first-time juror, recounted more than four hours of intense deliberations by Hanover County jurors before they found a man guilty of rape last week.

Griffin, one of the members on a jury of four men and eight women, described passionate and exhausting discussions that ended late Wednesday night with Timothy Hargett's conviction on a charge of rape, and his acquittal on five other felony charges. The jury recommended eight years in prison.

Hargett, 29, of Henrico County, who is married with two children and one on the way, raped a 25-year-old woman in the back seat of his car early the morning of Dec. 2 after he, the woman and several others had drinks at a nightclub in Richmond's Shockoe Bottom and then gathered at a house in Mechanicsville.

Griffin's account of the jury deliberations sheds light on a central legal process in which 12 people determine someone else's fate behind closed doors. It can be an agonizing time for the jurors and also for defendants, accusers and attorneys.

The other 11 jurors in Hargett's case either declined to comment or couldn't be reached.

Griffin described the intense embarrassment jurors felt when discussing pictures of the victim's vaginal injuries that had been presented as evidence. One man's face flushed red when the topic came up.

"It was difficult to deal with our humiliation, since we had to look at these graphic pictures and still be focused on trying to be objective," she said.

Meanwhile, investigators and employees of the prosecutor's office and friends and family of the victim waited anxiously for a verdict, with some trying to predict the unpredictable: How long would it take?

It was nearly 11 p.m. when the jury decided Hargett's guilt. The panel then spent about 40 minutes considering his punishment.

At the beginning of deliberations, four jurors -- two men and two women -- expressed that they didn't believe the victim's testimony, Griffin said. Four other jurors, a man and three women, didn't buy Hargett's account, she said.

"It was just a mess to try to weed through," Griffin said, adding that she was somewhere in the middle.

The jury acquitted Hargett of abduction, object sexual penetration, two counts of forcible sodomy and a second charge of rape. Griffin said the decision to convict on only one of the charges was not a compromise, adding that jurors thoroughly examined all six charges and sought to determine whether Angela M. O'Connor, the Hanover prosecutor who handled the case, had proved each beyond a reasonable doubt.

For the sentencing phase, the jury had the option of anywhere from five years to life in prison. Griffin said one jury member thought Hargett should pay for the rape with 25 years in prison. Others suggested 15 years, 10 years or five years.

So they went around the room, added up the number of years each juror thought Hargett should get, and then divided the total by 12. They came up with an average that was between eight and nine, which served as a starting point for further discussion, Griffin said. About a half-hour later, the jury had settled on the eight-year sentence.

Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or rwilliams@timesdispatch.com.