Summary
holding that the improper removal of a juror from the panel is not cured by the replacement of the juror with a duly selected alternate juror
Summary of this case from Nicholas v. StateOpinion
No. 3D06-556.
May 2, 2007.
Appeal from the Circuit Court, Miami-Dade County, William Thomas, J.
Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender, and Thomas Regnier, Assistant Public Defender, for appellant.
Bill McCollum, Attorney General, and Daniel P. Hyndman, West Palm Beach, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.
Before GREEN and SHEPHERD, JJ., and SCHWARTZ, Senior Judge.
Appellant's convictions are reversed for a new trial because the trial judge erroneously refused to excuse a selected juror and declare a mistrial. That ruling was required because, after the jury was sworn, the juror revealed that, although she had failed to respond when asked on the juror questionnaire whether she had been the victim of a crime, she had in fact twice been the victim of a burglary, the very offense with which Garrido was charged. See De La Rosa v. Zequeira, 659 So.2d 239 (Fla. 1995); Massey v. State, 760 So.2d 956 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000); see also Mobley v. State, 559 So.2d 1201 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990).
Reversed and remanded for a new trial.