Opinion ID: 1855709
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 43

Heading: Sequestration/ defendant's assignment of error number 8

Text: In this assignment of error, defendant contends that one juror was not instructed when the others were, as she was missing from the group. He further asserts that the reasons for her absence were unclear, and she never was instructed the way [the other jurors] were. Under La.C.Cr.P. art. 791(B), in capital cases, after each juror is sworn, he shall be sequestered, unless the state and the defense have jointly moved that the juror not be sequestered. In the instant case, the record reflects that the state and defense jointly moved that the jurors not be sequestered until the start of trial. Thus, there was no violation of sequestration, as the incident complained of in this assignment of error occurred before the start of trial, when the jurors were not yet sequestered. Further, the record reflects that the juror whom defendant complains was absent from the instructions and swearing in had been sworn in and instructed before the other eleven jurors. Finally, defendant does not allege, nor can we ascertain from the record, how this incident prejudiced him. This assignment of error thus lacks merit.