Arroyo jurors say charge didn’t fit

He said the jury - which included two nonpracticing attorneys, at least three college students or recent graduates, and other professionals - concluded prosecutors did not prove that Arroyo knowingly used the mail to further his alleged scheme to retire on a tax-free pension. It may have been a technicality, but it was key to the jury’s verdict.

“He was filling out disability forms at City Hall,’’ the juror said. “Was it reasonable and foreseeable, per the judge’s instructions, that the mail would be used to further his scheme? We didn’t think so.’’

Another juror said she and others thought Arroyo should have been charged in state court, where he could have been tried for simple fraud.

“I feel like it would have been found a lot differently that way,’’ said the juror, a 20-year-old college student from a Boston suburb who also asked that her name not be used. “I know a bunch of us didn’t exactly have the utmost respect for him… . Unfortunately, even if we wanted to lean in a different direction, we didn’t find enough proof.’’

Federal prosecutors said it was possible new fraud charges could be brought by state or local authorities against Arroyo, but officials in Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office declined to comment.

The juror said she did not trust Arroyo, who testified over three days last week. “It seemed like he was very much speaking off of a pre-thought-out plan of what to say. He seemed like he was being coached a little bit or just knew what he shouldn’t be saying.’’

Arroyo, who was fired for refusing to return to work as a fire inspector after officials learned he was competing as a bodybuilder, declined to comment yesterday through his lawyer, Timothy Watkins, a federal public defender.