Opinion ID: 2632907
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Jury's alleged failure to begin deliberations anew when alternate juror was substituted.

Text: Guilt phase jury deliberations began on Tuesday, November 14, 1995. The jury deliberated on Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday, and Thursday morning, although the jury spent much of this time listening to audiotapes and viewing videotapes that were admitted into evidence, and listening to readback of testimony. No deliberations were held Thursday afternoon because Juror 4 had become ill. On Friday Juror 4 was still ill, and the trial court learned that on Thursday night, a man had broken into Juror 10's home and forcibly sodomized her. The court declared a recess until Monday morning. That day, Juror 4 had recovered from her illness, but Juror 10 asked to be excused. The trial court replaced Juror 10 with an alternate juror. The jury then deliberated for roughly two and one-half hours before notifying the court that it had reached a verdict. Defendant points out that when, as here, a juror is replaced after the jury has engaged in deliberations, the jury must deliberate anew, and that the original jurors must be instructed to disregard their previous deliberations. ( People v. Collins, supra, 17 Cal.3d at p. 694, 131 Cal.Rptr. 782, 552 P.2d 742.) Defendant acknowledges that the jury here was instructed to do just that, but he contends it could not have done so because it deliberated for only a short time before arriving at its verdict. He argues that the original jurors' alleged failure to disregard their previous deliberations violates not only his right to jury trial under the state Constitution (see Collins, supra, at pp. 693-694, 131 Cal.Rptr. 782, 552 P.2d 742), but also did not satisfy the heightened standard of reliability required in capital cases by the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the federal Constitution. There was no violation of either Constitution. Other than noting the brevity of the deliberations, defendant offers no reason to believe that the original jurors disregarded the trial court's instruction that they put aside their previous deliberations and begin anew. But the brevity of the deliberations proves nothing. (See generally People v. Daugherty (1953) 40 Cal.2d 876, 890, 256 P.2d 911 [guilty verdict after 75 minutes of deliberations at guilt phase of capital trial did not demonstrate jury bias]; People v. Mundt (1939) 31 Cal. App.2d 685, 690, 88 P.2d 767 [guilty verdict after six minutes of deliberations was not improper].) The newly constituted jury was not required to deliberate for the same length of time as the original jury, nor was it required to review the same evidence. When, as here, there are no indications to the contrary, we assume that the jurors followed the trial court's instructions and started afresh. (See People v. Mickey (1991) 54 Cal.3d 612, 689, fn. 17, 286 Cal.Rptr. 801, 818 P.2d 84 [The crucial assumption underlying our constitutional system of trial by jury is that jurors generally understand and faithfully follow instructions.].)