Opinion ID: 1787540
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: removal of jurors weldon, zaribaf, and cunningham

Text: As his next claim of error, Knight challenges the trial court's removal of jurors Weldon, Zaribaf, and Cunningham because of extrinsic communications with a courthouse employee. For example, juror Cunningham told the trial court that the employee said that Knight was a total pscyho ... he is in a wheelchair ... [and] he is trying to starve himself to death. Despite asking the employee to cease commenting about the case three times, the employee kept talking and also mentioned that Knight had tried to commit suicide. During individual voir dire after the incident, all of the jurors said they could set it aside and be fair to both parties. However, on the State's motion, the court excused the three jurors on the basis that they now had outside information about Knight. Knight contends that the trial court's ruling violated his right to counsel because he alone was prejudiced by this improper contact, not the State. We conclude that this incident presented a presumptive instance of prejudice where the jurors heard obviously improper commentary from a courthouse employee relating to Knight's mental health problems. Accordingly, we find no abuse of discretion in the trial court's removal of the three jurors.