Opinion ID: 1970106
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: the remand hearing

Text: At the remand hearing each juror who deliberated in this case testified in camera with full right of examination and cross-examination by defense counsel and the prosecuting attorney. The jury foreman testified that after jury selection but before any testimony a male juror remarked in the jury room: This guy don't have a chance. Look around us. There's no blacks in here. We are all white. The jury foreman observed but did not hear another comment by another juror which prompted a few jurors to chuckle. The jury foreman recounted at the remand hearing for the first time that during the deliberations, there was another racial reference [3] . He said: Every once in a while I heard the one lady discuss the black guy, get him off the street, he's a drug dealer. Any black guy who would be in an area at that time with this, he's guilty. (emphasis added). No other juror recalled these remarks being made either before or during the deliberations in this case which were described by several jurors as animated. However, one juror did recall her surprise when the jury foreman posed the question, Do you feel he is guilty because he is black? I infer that this rhetorical question was prompted by the female juror's disclosure of actual bias. This corroboration convinces the Court that the testimony of the jury foreman is credible.