Court Opinion

ID: 9464255
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 23:28:55.010107+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:32.327756
License: Public Domain

LEWIS R. MORGAN, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent from the position taken by the majority. Insofar as they hold that in most cases a hearing, and perhaps a bench warrant for an absent juror, would be the preferred procedure, I agree. Such a practice would serve two purposes, providing a more complete record for later review and discouraging capricious absences by jurors. Nevertheless, I cannot agree that the error in this case was so harmful as to require reversal of the conviction. I would hold that the exercise of discretion by the trial court, pursuant to the authority given in Fed.R.Crim.Pro. 24(c), ought to be upheld where there has been no showing of prejudice to the defendant. United States v. Smith, 550 F.2d 277 (5th Cir. 1977). Since the majority would most likely find that there was no prejudice where an alternate juror replaced a juror who became temporarily ill, I don’t think it is sufficient to infer prejudice from the use of an alternate juror for a juror who has decided to go to work. In the case before us, I fail to see how the defendant was harmed by the substitution of the alternate juror for the absent juror. Accordingly, I would affirm the ruling of the lower court.