Court Opinion

ID: 9647342
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 13:33:39.816313+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:06:29.947750
License: Public Domain

DROWOTA, Justice,
dissenting.
The majority opinion today adopts a per se rule of automatic reversal in cases in which a regular juror is replaced by an alternate juror after jury deliberations have begun. Tenn.R.Crim.P. 24(e) tracks Fed.R.Crim.P. 24(c). Thus, an analysis of the federal cases is instructive. The harmless error analysis, adopted by our Court of Criminal Appeals, is followed by the vast majority of federal appellate courts.1 The majority opinion refuses to adopt such an analysis. I file this dissent, not because I necessarily favor a harmless error analysis, but because I favor a procedural rule that would promote judicial efficiency and, at the same time, protect the defendant, the State and the judicial process.
The Defendants Bobo and Johnson were inmates on death row awaiting execution when they brutally murdered fellow death row inmate Laron Williams. Bobo and Johnson were identified by a prison guard as being the ones who, while in the exercise yard, repeatedly dropped two thirty-five pound dumb bells on the victim’s head and chest causing his death. The Defendants were convicted of second degree murder. The majority opinion concedes that the evidence against these Defendants was overwhelming.
It should be pointed out that Bobo’s application for permission to appeal to this Court was not timely filed and the opinion of the Court of Criminal Appeals should therefore be affirmed as to him.
Johnson is presently serving four life sentences, two for armed robbery and two for assault with intent to commit murder in the first degree. He is also awaiting execution under three separate death penalties for three murders in the first degree.
The Court of Criminal Appeals found that Johnson consented to the juror’s substitution. “He stated that he wanted the juror replaced and the others questioned as to whether they had been adversely affected by the discussion.” The intermediate court also found “beyond a reasonable doubt that there was no prejudice to either Appellant from the substitution of the alternate for the regular juror. As the California Supreme Court said in People v. Collins, [17 Cal.3d 687, 131 Cal.Rptr. 782, 552 P.2d 742, 744 (1976) ], there is ‘no reasonable probability that a more favorable verdict would have been returned’ had a mistrial been declared, an entirely new jury-been impaneled, and a new trial held.”
The majority opinion, after citing several states that have rules or statutes that permit substitution of a disqualified juror with an alternate after deliberations have begun2, and after citing numerous other courts, on both the state and federal level, that have applied a harmless error analysis *361in the absence of a rule or statute3, adopts a per se rule of automatic reversal.4 The majority acknowledges the per se rule of automatic reversal is imperfect when it states: “We realize the burdens that are imposed on the trial courts when a juror suddenly becomes ill or otherwise disqualified from jury service during the deliberative process, especially where the trial has been lengthy and complex in nature.” Yet the majority concludes: “We believe that any errors affecting the constitutional right to trial by jury will result in such prejudice to the judicial process that automatic reversal is required.”
I find no such constitutional impediment. I do not believe a per se rule that requires an automatic reversal and retrial in every case in which jurors are excused after the jury panel has commended deliberations is the answer to a problem that continues to occur with- regularity. This Court has asked our Advisory Commission on Criminal Rules, appointed pursuant to T.C.A. § 16-3-601(b), to study and recommend changes to Rule 24(e) of the Tenn. R.Crim.P. Our trial judges need guidance on how to proceed when this problem arises. I feel the per se approach taken by the Court today curtails further study by our Advisory Commission. The Commission should be allowed to recommend to this Court a reasonable rule that preserves the rights of the defendant, the State, and provides for judicial economy.
I am of the opinion that a constitutionally permissible procedural rule could be drafted allowing substitution of an alternate juror after deliberations have begun, and/or allowing the trial court to accept a verdict by a jury of less than twelve. California’s procedure for substitution of jurors was held to preserve the essential feature of jury trial required by the Sixth Amendment and the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Miller v. Stagner, 757 F.2d 988 (9th Cir.1985); People v. Collins, 131 Cal.Rptr. 782, 552 P.2d 742, 17 Cal.3d 687 (1976), cert. denied 97 S.Ct. 820, 429 U.S. 1077, 50 L.Ed.2d 796 (1977). Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey and Oklahoma also have rules of court or statutes which constitutionally permit substitution of jurors after deliberations have begun. (See footnote 2 for citations.)
I feel the adoption of an automatic per se rule requiring reversal in every case where it becomes necessary to excuse a juror is an unnecessary waste of court resources and a substantial expenditure for the prosecution and defendant. I would affirm the results reached by the majority of the Court of Criminal Appeals. Such a ruling would allow the Advisory Commission on Criminal Rules to submit to this Court their recommendations after due deliberation. The trial judges of this State need an alternative to granting a new trial and I feel a constitutional procedural rule could be adopted that would give the bench and bar that option.
I am authorized by Justice O’BRIEN to note his concurrence in this dissenting opinion.

. See, e.g., United States v. Hillard, 701 F.2d 1052 (2d Cir.1983), cert. denied, 461 U.S. 958, 103 S.Ct. 2431, 77 L.Ed.2d 1318 (1983); United States v. Phillips, 664 F.2d 971 (5th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 457 U.S. 1136, 102 S.Ct. 2965, 73 L.Ed.2d 1354, 459 U.S. 906, 103 S.Ct. 208, 74 L.Ed.2d 166 (1982); Henderson v. Lane, 613 F.2d 175 (7th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 986, 100 S.Ct. 2971, 64 L.Ed.2d 844 (1980) (no constitutional bar to a state court allowing substitution of an alternate after deliberations have begun); United States v. Kopituk, 690 F.2d 1289, 1311 (11th Cir.1983); United States v. Barone, 83 F.R.D. 565, 572 (S.D.Fla.1979).

. See Cal.Penal Code § 1089 (West 1985) [held constitutional, Miller v. Stagner, 757 F.2d 988 (9th Cir.1985); People v. Collins, 17 Cal.3d 687, 131 Cal.Rptr. 782, 552 P.2d 742 (1976)]; Ga. Code Ann. § 59-909-910 (Harrison 1981); Ind. Code Ann., tit. 34, Append., TR. 47(B) (West 1987) [see, McHenry v. State, 401 N.E.2d 745 (1980) ]; Kan.Stat.Ann. § 22-3412 (1988); Mass. Gen.Laws Ann. ch. 234, § 26B (West 1986) [held constitutional, Com. v. Haywood, 388 N.E.2d 648, 377 Mass. 755 (1979) ]; N.J.Rules of Court § l:8-2(d).
The following states not cited in the majority opinion also have statutes that permit substitution after deliberations have begun: Mont.Code Ann. § 46-16-307(3); Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) § 175.061(3); 22 Okla.St.Ann. § 601b.

.See People v. Dry Land Marina, Inc., 175 Mich. App. 322, 437 N.W.2d 391 (1989); United States v. Hillard, 701 F.2d 1052 (2nd Cir.1983); United States v. Phillips, 664 F.2d 971 (5th Cir.1981); State v. Wideman, 69 Haw. 268, 739 P.2d 931 (1987) [Sotola v. State, 436 So.2d 1001 (Fla.App. 5 Dist.1983); see also footnote 1.]

.People v. Ryan, 19 N.Y.2d 100, 278 N.Y.S.2d 199, 224 N.E.2d 710 (1966) [see Consolidated Laws of N.Y.Ann. § 270.35, which allows replacement by alternate juror with consent of the defendant once deliberations have begun.]; Woods v. Commonwealth, 287 Ky. 312, 152 S.W.2d 997 (1941); United States v. Virginia Erection Corp., 335 F.2d 868 (4th Cir.1964).