Court Opinion

ID: 9479554
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:21:34.096735+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:06.874141
License: Public Domain

BEEZER, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur in parts I and IIB of the court’s opinion. I respectfully dissent from part IIA.
Fed.R.Crim.P. 23(b) places the burden of excusing a juror for just cause upon the court, not upon counsel. Ms. Peters was candid with the district court when she said she could not be “fair to the defendant.” The rule permits the court to excuse a juror, with or without the consent of counsel, and for the remaining jurors to deliberate to a verdict.
Ross was denied his right to be tried by an impartial jury. Ms. Peters plainly, clearly, and unequivocally stated that she was no longer a disinterested and impartial juror able to argue and cajole, stand firm or retreat as her conscience, the evidence, and the deliberative process demanded. She admitted that her only concern was “to agree with anybody just so I can go home.” We have no way of knowing what effect, if *268any, the illness of the juror may have had on her fellow jurors and their deliberative proceedings.
There is no case law which I have found which is remotely analogous to the issue raised in this appeal. The reason is clear— no juror so plainly admitting a lack of impartiality would be permitted to continue deliberating. The lack of impartiality was so patent that I see no room, in this case, for a district court to evaluate the juror’s “testimony, demeanor and appearance” to determine whether the juror could continue to deliberate.
I have no doubt that the juror was not physically endangered by the further deliberations. Physical fitness to serve is not, however, the measure of impartiality. A jury’s critical faculties are what breathes life into the term “deliberating jury.” The juror’s own statement indicates that her illness suspended her critical faculties, and, hence, her impartiality.
I cast no aspersion on the juror’s conduct. She was at all times forthright with the court and merely did as she was told after she alerted the court to the effect of her illness on her ability to deliberate. Her conduct was honorable and to be commended.
The right to an impartial jury is at the very core of our criminal justice system. I believe that Ross was denied that right. It was the duty of the district court to assure that the defendant’s conduct was measured by a totally impartial jury and the failure to discharge the ill juror was plain error. I would reverse and grant a new trial.