Opinion ID: 1249738
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Soliciting Jury's Opinion Regarding Ill Juror's Discharge.

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.