Opinion ID: 2390875
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the waiver of a jury of twelve

Text: The defendant argues that the trial justice erred in accepting the waiver by defendant and his counsel of his right to have his case decided by a jury of twelve persons. The facts underlying this waiver were as follows. During the voir dire examination of the jurors, counsel had questioned the prospective panel members concerning whether anyone had been the victim of a similar crime in the past. One of the jurors responded that his brother had been involved as a victim of a crime but did not mention that he himself had been such a victim. No alternate jurors had been impaneled owing to the limited numbers of jurors available in Washington County and also in light of the fact that another trial justice was engaged in a jury trial in another courtroom. About midway through the trial this juror recalled and informed the court that he had been the victim of an armed robbery about five to eight years prior to the trial. He stated that he had been robbed at knife point while working alone at a gas station. The juror stated that he did not recall the incident during voir dire examination. He also assured the court that this incident would not in any way affect his impartiality and asserted that he felt he could continue to sit as a juror and render a verdict based upon the evidence. The juror, Lee Kissinger, further disclosed that he was an engineer and was accustomed to dealing with facts in the course of his employment. He further stated that his experience would not cause him to be more or less favorable to either party. Counsel for defendant did not question the juror, nor did counsel for the state. After the trial justice had concluded his questioning of the juror, counsel for defendant conferred with his client and stated that if the juror had made this disclosure during the voir dire, he would have exercised a peremptory challenge. Defense counsel then discussed with his client whether he wished to move for a mistrial or whether he wished to challenge this (probably meaning the juror). After the discussion, defense counsel requested the court to excuse the juror and to allow the case to proceed with the eleven remaining jurors. The state agreed to the proposal of defense counsel. The trial justice stated that he felt that the juror could be impartial notwithstanding the incident that he recalled but observed that under Rule 23 of the Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure, the parties might stipulate with the approval of the court that the jury should consist of any number less than twelve. The trial justice then had defendant take the stand, and after having the oath administered, he admonished defendant concerning his right to a jury of twelve. The defendant asserted that he understood but further stated that he agreed to waive his right to a jury of twelve and wished to proceed with a jury of eleven from which Kissinger would be excused. The defendant's claim of error is based upon the argument that although the court admonished defendant concerning his right to a jury of twelve, he failed to admonish defendant that he also had a right to challenge the juror for cause and then, having achieved the court's approval of the challenge, he could seek a mistrial. The difficulty with this argument is that any such admonition would have been both incorrect and misleading. There is no indication that the court would have acceded to a challenge for cause. No such challenge was presented, but the trial justice's comments indicate that he thought the juror would still be impartial. Consequently there was little likelihood that the mistrial option would have been available. The trial justice was given a proposal by counsel to excuse a juror whom counsel might have peremptorily challenged in the voir dire if he had known about the prior incident. The state agreed to the proposal, and defendant, after consultation with counsel, also agreed. In our opinion, this was a voluntary and intentional waiver of a known right. Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458, 58 S.Ct. 1019, 82 L.Ed. 1461 (1938). Consequently the judge committed no error in accepting this waiver after admonishing defendant concerning all but highly speculative factors.