The Sheriff's office allowed visitors access to the jury while they were sequestered

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159. As the following info indicates, it is possible for a visit to be "supervised" without the guard

being present:

From Missouri's practice guide for judges:


5. If the trial is going to be over a couple of days, some judges make arrangements for the jurors to have contact with their family in the evening. This will go a long way in keeping the jury's mood positive. This often can be done by arranging for a couple of hours where jurors may visit with their family at the hotel. The deputies should meet with the visitors prior to contact and instruct them they are not to ask the juror about the trial or discuss the case. Some judges provide that the deputies do not have to be present during the visit, but the jurors must always be under the supervision and custody of the deputies. See State v. Leisure, 810 S.W.2d 560 (Mo. App. 1991).


http://www.courts.mo.gov/hosted/resourcecenter/TJCB%20Published%20April%208.2011/CH_06_JurySeq_files/CH_06_JurySeq.htm

Having a guard stationed outside the room where the visit is occurring is sufficient to keep the juror "under the supervision and custody" of the guard.

The fact is that sequestration is almost always a matter falling within the discretion of the judge except possibly in capital cases. And the rules of sequestration are not rigid. The judge has the authority to design the sequestration as he or she wants.