impartial jury
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Colorado Supreme Court ponders what to do when substituting alternate jurors mid-deliberation
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When one juror in Ricardo Castro’s criminal trial became incapacitated 11 hours into the jury’s deliberations and could not continue, there was broad agreement afterward that the trial judge did everything he could to emphasize the need for remaining jurors to begin anew — with the alternate juror replacing her stricken counterpart. The question now…
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Appeals court declares automatic reversal not required after Jeffco judge forgot to swear in jurors
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For the first time on Thursday, Colorado’s second-highest court determined a criminal defendant’s convictions are not subject to automatic reversal if a trial judge neglects to swear in the jury. A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals noted the U.S. Supreme Court has never explicitly recognized the constitutional right to a sworn jury. Although…
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? Nicolais: Supreme Court reviews pulling back the jury curtain for racial bias
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The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees “an impartial jury” to all defendants. But what seems to be a clear and concise rule becomes much less so in practice. Most dramatically, whatever is said among deliberating jurors cannot be used to prove bias. No matter how far from impartial such statements may remove a…
