Opinion ID: 2544661
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Suspension of Jury Deliberations

Text: During the jury selection process, the trial court informed the jurors that the court would not be in session on Fridays or during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. The jury began its guilt phase deliberations on Thursday, December 20, 1990. At 4:30 p.m., the prosecutor suggested that the court ask the jurors if they would be willing to continue deliberations on the next day even though it was a Friday. Defense counsel objected, however, and the trial court rejected the prosecutor's suggestion. The trial proceedings were in recess until Wednesday, January 2, 1991, when the jury resumed its deliberations. The jury deliberated on that day and the next, and it returned its verdicts on the following Monday, January 7, 1991. After the conclusion of the penalty phase, at which the jury returned the penalty verdict of death, defendant moved for a new trial, assigning as one of the grounds the trial court's adjournment of the proceedings between December 20, 1990, and January 2, 1991. Arguing that this was reversible error, defendant relied on the then recent decision of the Court of Appeal in People v. Santamaria (1991) 229 Cal.App.3d 269, 280 Cal.Rptr. 43. The trial court denied the motion for a new trial. Defendant contends that the trial court committed prejudicial error and denied him his constitutional right to due process of law by permitting the jury to interrupt its deliberations for 13 days. We reject this claim. Because defendant did not object to this suspension of deliberations, the claim is not preserved for appellate review. ( People v. Ochoa (2001) 26 Cal.4th 398, 440, 110 Cal.Rptr.2d 324, 28 P.3d 78.) Defense counsel not only failed to object to the suspension of deliberations, he opposed the prosecutor's suggestion that the jury be given the option to deliberate on Friday, December 21, 1990. Disregarding Fridays, the suspension of deliberations included only four court days (December 24, 26, 27, and 31), and these occurred during a traditional holiday period when jurors were likely to be particularly inconvenienced by court duties. (See People v. Johnson (1993) 19 Cal.App.4th 778, 790-792, 23 Cal.Rptr.2d 703 [no reversible error where trial court interrupted jury deliberations for 17 calendar days, including nine court days, during December holidays]; Hamilton v. Vasquez (9th Cir.1994) 17 F.3d 1149, 1159 [no denial of due process where trial court interrupted jury deliberations for 18 calendar days during December holidays].) The trial judge noted that the adjournment was for the convenience of the jurors, not for the judge's personal convenience, and that the judge would be at court and working on other matters on each court day. (See Stroud v. Superior Court (2000) 23 Cal.4th 952, 970-971, 98 Cal.Rptr.2d 677, 4 P.3d 933.) The trial court did not abuse its discretion in suspending deliberations for a relatively short time during the holiday season for the jurors' convenience.