Court Opinion

ID: 9639103
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 16:04:58.91778+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:12.538469
License: Public Domain

SWAN, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I am unable to agree with that portion of the opinion which holds that the verdict should have been set aside. When the jury was polled, juror No. 12 declared that he agreed to the verdict. The court then directed that the verdict he recorded. Thereupon counsel fog appellant Pleva asked to have the record show the physical condition of juror No. 12. And in response to this suggestion the juror made the remark which has been construed as indicating that his agreement was the result of coercion, nis remark was not made in answer to an inquiry as to his agreement to the verdict. Such inquiry ho had already answered in the affirmative. This he never retracted in his statements to the court. Ilis remark was made in contradiction of the doctor’s opinion, as quoted by him, that nothing was the matter with him. What in fact was his condition and whether it was such as to prevent his deliberations in the jury room, the trial court was better able to determine than are we, who see only the printed record. In my opinion, there is not sufficient to upset his ruling, and the judgment of conviction should be affirmed. See People v. Buchanan, 145 N. Y. 1, 29, 39 N. E. 846, In re Buchanan, 158 U. S. 33, 15 S. Ct. 723 39 L. Ed. 884.