Opinion ID: 900247
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Thirteen Jurors

Text: [¶ 19.] SDCL 23A-18-2 states: Juries shall consist of twelve members.... Further, SDCL 23A-20-28 provides in relevant part: A court may direct that not more than six jurors in addition to the regular jury members be called and impaneled to sit as alternate jurors.... An alternate juror who does not replace a regular juror shall be discharged after the jury retires to consider its verdict. (emphasis added). This statute unambiguously mandates that alternate jurors be dismissed when the jury begins its deliberations. The trial court's inclusion of the thirteenth juror in the deliberations clearly violated the law. Cf. Olano, 507 U.S. at 737-41, 113 S.Ct. at 1779-81. It would be a different matter if both sides made an informed agreement to leave the alternate on the jury during deliberations. Because the thirteenth juror participated in deliberations we need not speculate, as the Supreme Court did in Olano, on what potential influence the juror had on the other members of the jury. 507 U.S. at 739, 113 S.Ct. at 1780. All thirteen were polled at the end of the trial and all said they voted guilty on each count. See United States v. Ottersburg, 76 F.3d 137 (7thCir.1996), decision clarified on denial of reh'g, 81 F.3d 657 (7thCir.1996); People v. Babbington, 286 Ill.App.3d 724, 222 Ill.Dec. 122, 676 N.E.2d 1326 (Ill.App.1997), reh'g denied Mar. 13, 1997, appeal denied, 173 Ill.2d 529, 226 Ill.Dec. 134, 684 N.E.2d 1337 (Ill.1997). Nor do we think this pro se defendant's assent to the court's question about having thirteen jurors was an informed waiver. If not ambiguous, the court's request of the defendant about whether he wanted thirteen jurors was without any warning or explanation about the pitfalls of having an extra juror in deliberations. He was never told that not only must the thirteen be unanimous to convict, but they also had to be unanimous to acquit. What influence the additional juror had upon the verdict is indeterminable. We deem this plain error.