Court Opinion

ID: 9742300
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:10:28.236615+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:30.788670
License: Public Domain

DeBRULER, Justice,
dissenting.
After the evidence was all in, but before receiving final instructions, juror Green asked the bailiff, in whose charge the jury then was, how the jury should go about getting a foreman. The bailiff responded that it was to be done by the twelve jurors themselves. Green then raised the subject in the jury room, saying, “Well, here is what has to be done. The foreman has to be selected among us.” All then joined in saying, “You can have it if you want it.” He then dropped his head and said nothing else. There was no misconduct when the question was asked of the bailiff; that is what bailiffs are for. There was no discussion of the case by Green or the jury that was contrary to court admonition when the subject of the selection of a foreman was raised and the jurors volunteered Green for the job. The trial judge nevertheless discharged Green as a juror because his selection as foreman had taken place before the final instruction by the trial court, which states merely that the jury should go forth and select a foreman from its members. Defense counsel objected, saying Green should not be isolated from the rest of the jury, as they had all participated in the conduct. The judgment of the trial court to remove Green was without a sufficient *44basis and was an abuse of discretion. The events leading to this ruling were totally innocuous; however, the ruling was not. It condemned the jury for breaking a rule in selecting the lone black juror as its foreman, which rule had not been communicated to them in the admonition by the court. The trial court oversteered the case here, and the resulting prejudice to the cause of the defense is substantial. I would reverse and remand for a new trial.
If, as required by Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), the State was under the duty to rebut a prima facie showing of discrimination, and sought to do so upon the events which led the trial court to discharge the juror Green, I would declare such rebuttal insufficient.
SHEPARD, C.J., concurs.