NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff

- Appellee,

v.
ROLANDO FELIX

- CARRAZCO, AKA Rolandod Felix Carrazco, AKA Carrazco Felix Rolando,
Defendant

- Appellant. No. 19

- 10036
D.C. No. 1:18

- cr - 00059

- DAD

- BAM

- 1

MEMORANDUM *

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California Dale A. Drozd, District Judge, Presiding Submitted May 11, 2020 * * San Francisco, California Before: THOMAS, Chief Judge, and FRIEDLAND and BENNETT, Circuit Judges.
Defendant Rolando Felix

- Carrazco appeals his conviction, following a jury trial, for illegal reentry in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326

. He argues that he was

* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36

- 3.

** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2). 

# FILED

MAY 14 2020
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS2

denied his Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury when the district court dismissed a juror for refusing to follow the court’s instructions after the jury had begun deliberating

. We have jurisdic tion under 28 U.S.C. § 1291

. Reviewing the
district court’ s dismissal of the juror f or abuse of discretion and its factual findings relating to juror misconduct for clear error , United States v. Vartanian , 476 F.3d 1095, 1098 (9th Cir. 2007) , we affirm

. A district court may dismiss a juror for “good cause” “[a]fter the jury has
retired to deliberate.” Fed

. R

. Crim

. P

. 23(b)(3)

. “A juror ’ s intentional disregard
of the law , ” as instructed by the court , “ can constitute good cause for dismissal of the juror. ” United States v. Christensen , 828 F.3d 763, 806 (9th Cir. 2015)

. The district court here did not abuse its discretion in dismissing Juror No. 7 because he openly admitted that he had “made statements indicating [his] intent not to follow [the court’s] instruction” to disregard certain redacted information,
and further told the court that it would be “impossible” for him to “make an objective appraisal [about the case] without some refe rence to that information” going forward. Indeed, w hen the district court asked Juror No. 7 whether he would be unable to ignore the redactions “[e]ven though I have instructed you to disregard [them],” Juror No. 7 responded, “Of course.” This “violation of [his] sworn duty to follow the law as instructed by the court” c onstitute d good cause for3

Juror No. 7’s removal. Christensen , 828 F.3d at 807 (quoting Merced v. McGrath , 426 F.3d 1076, 1079

- 80 (9th Cir. 2005)).
We are not persuaded by Felix

- Carrazco ’s argument that Juror No. 7 was in
fact d ismissed because h is views on the merits of the case conflicted with those of the other jurors, and not because he refused to follow the district court’s
instructions. See id. at 80 7 ( “ [I] t is not permissible to discharge a juror based on his views regarding the sufficiency of the evidence. ” )

. It is true that Juror No. 7
mentione d at one point that “ a doubt ha [d] been created ” in his mind about the evidence, which was his “ basis for asking for more information ” that had been
redacted. But “ such a passing reference ” to the state of the e vidence “ does not

. . . preclude discharge of the juror for good cause , ” i d. at 812 , in light of Juror No. 7 ’s

un equivocal and repeated assertions that he believed the court was improperly “withh[olding]” the redacted information from him. Notably , multiple jurors told
the district court that Juror No. 7 attributed his resistan ce to the court’s instructions
to his “distrust in the government

. . . in general ,” rather than to the strength of the evidence in this particular prosecution. We therefore see no “ reasonable possibility that the impetus for [Juror No. 7’s] dismissal stem [med] from [his]
views on the merits of the case .” United States v. Symin gton , 195 F.3d 1080, 1087 (9th Cir. 1999)

.4

We also reject Felix

- Carrazco ’s contention that the district court “delve[d] too far into the jury’s deliberations” when it questioned individual jurors about
Juror No. 7’s misconduct. Where credible allegations of jury misconduct arise during deliberations, “ a district court may, within its sound discretion, investigate the allegations through juror questioning.” Christensen , 828 F.3d at 809 ( quoting
United States v. Boone , 458 F.3d 321, 329 (3d Cir

. 2006) ). I n questioning the jurors here , the district court scrupulously limited its inquiry to the circu mstances surrounding Juror No. 7’s reported refusal to follow its instructions, and repeatedly cautioned each juror not to reveal anything about the substance of the jury’s
deliberations.
AFFIRMED.