Court Opinion

ID: 9567751
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:57:21.647373+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:20:35.032400
License: Public Domain

Justice Huskins
dissenting.
Analysis of the decisions cited in the majority opinion leads me to conclude that defendant’s conviction should be upheld.
Basically, the authorities relied on by the majority hold that a new trial is required if the alternate juror is present during deliberations of the jury. There is nothing in this record to support the notion that any deliberations had taken place during the brief presence of the alternate juror. Indeed, all the attendant circumstances suggest the contrary.
The trial of this case consumed the better part of three days. The case itself involves conspiracy, the law dealing with malicious attempts to damage personal property, and aiding and abetting such offenses. Following the charge to the jury dealing with these difficult legal principles, the trial judge inadvertently allowed the alternate juror to retire to the jury room with the twelve. After “three or four minutes” the jury and alternate were recalled to the courtroom and the alternate was dismissed. The jury returned to the jury room and ultimately rendered a verdict of guilty on all counts. The majority holds that the presence of the alternate juror in the jury room “during the jury’s deliberations” violates Article I, section 24 of our Constitution and G.S. 9-18 and constitutes reversible error per se. To my way of thinking, that holding violates the following quotation from the majority opinion: “There is, how*631ever, no substitute for common sense, and the foregoing rule has no application where the alternate’s presence in the jury-room is inadvertent and momentary, and it occurs under circumstances from which it can be clearly seen or immediately determined that the jury had not begun its function as a separate entity.”
The circumstances negate the majority’s assumption that the jury had begun its deliberations during the brief presence of the alternate juror. This conclusion is supported by common knowledge that jurors rarely begin their deliberations the instant the last juror enters the jury room and the door is closed. Reason dictates that this jury, after a three-day trial and a lengthy charge, spent the first three or four minutes after it retired “making itself comfortable,” lighting up a cigarette, and inspecting the coffee pot. These preliminaries ordinarily consume more than four minutes. Few restrooms will accommodate twelve people simultaneously. Thus, application of reason to the facts and circumstances impels the conclusion drawn by the Court of Appeals- that the alternate juror did not participate in the deliberations and verdict of the jury and “his brief visit to the jury room was not prejudicial.”
Defendant’s co-conspirators pled guilty to one charge of malicious damage to personal property by the use of an incendiary device, testified for the State in this case, and each is now serving a prison sentence of two to three years. Proof of this defendant’s guilt is overwhelming.
Despite overcrowded dockets, our courts are faced with ever-increasing demands for speedy trials, and I am unwilling to impose upon the State and the courts the penalty of a retrial of this case. In my view defendant has had a fair trial free from prejudical error. The record shows that at the time the trial judge recalled the jury and dismissed the alternate he consulted with prosecution and defense counsel at the bench. Defendant raised no objection based on the inadvertence and made no motion for a mistrial. This suggests that defendant regarded the brief presence of the alternate juror as harmless and perceived no prejudice to his cause. He should not be permitted now to assume a different stance. Moreover, it is my view that the trial judge should never declare a mistrial based upon the inadvertent presence of the alternate juror, even after limited inquiry as to whether there has been any discussion of the case, unless defendant either seeks or consents to a mistrial. *632Otherwise, a plea of double jeopardy upon retrial may present serious problems.
For the reasons stated, I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion and vote to affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals.
Justices Copeland and Exum join in this dissent.