Opinion ID: 1249738
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Jury-based Claims of Error.

Text: The jury was about to resume deliberating after a weekend recess when the court and parties learned that a juror was ill with a sore throat and high blood pressure. The weather was poor and the juror was afraid of contracting pleurisy. She said she might be able to return in three days. The prosecution suggested replacing the juror with an alternate because there was no real assurance at the end of those three days ... that she would be with us. Defendant's counsel wanted to discuss the problem with his client before taking a position, but preliminarily felt it better to wait for three days because otherwise the jury would have to start deliberations anew. Everyone agreed to inform the jury of events, but defendant's counsel said, I don't want the jury to think they are controlling whether an alternate is picked or not. The court then said, without opposition, Let them tell us what they want to do. After the court explained the situation, the jury conferred, apparently only momentarily, before announcing it wanted an alternate sworn. At this point defendant's counsel told the court that one juror had reservations about a verdict that the jury had reached and might want to change his or her mind. Neither the parties nor the court knew the verdict or the juror at that point, but defendant's counsel worried that If this, perhaps, is the one juror who had some reservations, or had some doubt in the case, perhaps the jury's only decision is influenced by that as well. I think the court can consider that in making its decision to seat an alternate. After a recess, defendant's counsel conceded there was statutory good cause to replace the juror with the alternate, but formally objected to her replacement on the sole ground that too much time had already been spent on deliberations. The court found that the alternate should be seated, because of the original juror's illness and having discussed this with the jury to see what they preferred to do.... The next day, with the alternate juror seated, the jury found defendant guilty. Defendant later discovered that the replaced juror was indeed the one who had had reservations. He submitted an affidavit in which that juror declared she had originally voted for conviction but changed her mind because she had doubts whether prosecution witnesses had been truthful. Her affidavit implied the 11 other jurors were displeased with her doubts. She declared she would like to have continued on the panel had the court let her do so. (36a) Defendant now contends the court erred in inviting the jurors' opinion and in essence allowing the jury to remove the one recalcitrant juror, thus hastening a unanimous verdict. We find no error. A juror may be replaced if ill. (§ 1089; see also former § 1123, in effect at the time of the ruling.) (37) The language of the statute then in effect, as well as that of section 1089 today, makes clear that the decision to replace an ill juror with an alternate is discretionary. The court's discretion is not unbounded: it must determine whether good cause exists to discharge the juror, and its reasons for discharge must appear in the record as a demonstrable reality. ( People v. Collins (1976) 17 Cal.3d 687, 696 [131 Cal. Rptr. 782, 552 P.2d 742].) (36b) Here the court did its duty by telephoning the ill juror, discussing the matter on the record with counsel, and stating its reasons. (See People v. Lanigan (1943) 22 Cal.2d 569, 577-578 [140 P.2d 24, 148 A.L.R. 176].) Hence there was no abuse of discretion in its ruling that good cause existed to discharge the ill juror. For that reason, we are unable to find error. Nevertheless, we caution that trial courts must not permit jurors to exercise any control over the composition of the jury. That function is reserved exclusively for the trial court.
(38) Defendant also asserts that ambiguity in the record regarding the disposition of a jury inquiry deprived him of his right under state law to have the proceedings recorded and to have the inquiry answered in his or his counsel's presence. He also contends he was deprived of an appeal based on a proper record, a flaw that violated his due process and Eighth Amendment rights under the federal Constitution. The court reporter was not present when the jury sent out four inquiries regarding its duties during deliberations. Three inquiries were made during penalty-phase deliberations and are discussed post, at part III.J. Settlement proceedings conducted years after trial failed to establish what the jury was told in the case of three of the notes, including the note relevant to the following discussion. As relevant in this guilt phase discussion, the jury sent out a note stating that the jurors wanted to have the verdict form on 1st degree murder clarified concerning step 2. Because the note referred to first degree murder, it is most likely that the jury was wondering about the meaning of the following option on the verdict form, which it answered affirmatively: (2) The defendant has has not in this proceeding been convicted of more than one offense of murder in the first or second degree in violation of Penal Code Section 190.2(a)(3). (Words stricken in original as returned by jury.) There is no record of the response, if any, to this question. It is not even apparent that defense counsel saw the inquiry. The court erred under state law by not having the proceedings, if any, reported in open court in the parties' presence. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 39.5(c); see also § 190.9 [operative July 1, 1990]; People v. Morris, supra, 53 Cal.3d 152, 210, fn. 11.) If it failed to answer the inquiry in the presence of or after notice to defendant's counsel or defendant himself, it also erred as a matter of state law. (§ 1138.) Any error under section 1138, however, is subject to the prejudice standard of People v. Watson, supra, 46 Cal.2d 818, 836 ( People v. Ainsworth (1988) 45 Cal.3d 984, 1020 [248 Cal. Rptr. 568, 755 P.2d 1017]), and we believe the same rule should apply to the failure to have the proceedings reported. In People v. Chessman (1950) 35 Cal.2d 455, 462 [218 P.2d 769, 19 A.L.R.2d 1084], a case analogous because the reporter's notes were incomplete, we held that the defendant bore the burden of showing prejudice because of a consequential omission. Here as there, Examination of the record in light of defendant's claims discloses that it is adequate to permit us to ascertain whether there has been any miscarriage of justice. ( Ibid. ) We find no such miscarriage. We cannot agree that defendant has shown that the lapse  if any occurred other than a failure to include the reporter in the discussion  resulted in a reasonable probability of a less favorable outcome for him. The jury completed the verdict form, and we must conclude the matter was resolved to its satisfaction. Defendant also raises federal due process and Eighth Amendment claims that the failure to record the proceedings deprived him of a right to a meaningful appeal. We need not decide the scope of those rights in this discussion, however, for defendant has cited no authority that would require reversal per se, and it is plain that the court's failure to preserve the record of the discussion of and answer to the inquiry, if any, was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. (See People v. Moore (1988) 201 Cal. App.3d 51, 58 [248 Cal. Rptr. 31].) Nor do we perceive a defect of such a magnitude that defendant's Eighth Amendment right to reliability in the fact-finding process was implicated. The cases defendant cites do not persuade us to the contrary.