Court Opinion

ID: 9758995
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 23:59:15.258637+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:57.901453
License: Public Domain

PAPADAKOS, Justice,
concurring.
I join with the Majority in affirming the Superior Court order which affirmed the trial court’s grant of a new trial. I write separately to express my view that we should establish a per se rule governing a situation where a trial counsel has an attorney-client relationship with a juror. In such cases, either the trial lawyer must withdraw from the case, or the juror must be removed by the court. If neither can be accomplished, then a new trial must be granted. Nothing less will insure the appearance of impartiality and maintain the integrity of the jury.
In the absence of such a prophylactic rule, the trial judge was faced with deciding between the rights of the parties to a fair and impartial jury on the one hand, and judicial convenience on the other hand. He opted for judicial expediency (presumably because of the agreement of all parties), but perhaps harboring the secret wish of all trial judges that the verdict would cure any defect. It did not happen here, and the parties are put to the expense and burden of retrying their case long after the events (1977) and following two appeals.