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Appellant, William Satele, Reply Brief - California Courts - State of ...

Appellant, William Satele, Reply Brief - California Courts - State of ...

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had in fact reached an impasse at the close <strong>of</strong>the day on Wednesday, prior to Juror<br />

No. 10's conversations with her mother and friend. The trial court refused. (l8RT<br />

4453-4455.)<br />

as follows:<br />

Counsel for Nunez summarized the results <strong>of</strong>the hearing with Juror No. 10,<br />

[Juror No. 10] apparently received no advice from anybody or no statement<br />

from anybody except that apparently the most that happened when the lady<br />

pointed a hand, she indicated that one hand was the verdict, and I don't fmd<br />

anything indicating that she was acting upon any suggestions or advice or<br />

even received any, but only made that one comment. Thank you.<br />

(18RT 4455:10-18.)<br />

As noted above, the trial court made numerous separate statements<br />

regarding its ruling, revisiting it after defense counsel sought to have the court<br />

clarify whether Juror No. lOin fact held her conversations after the jury had<br />

reached the impasse late Wednesday that became the subject <strong>of</strong> the written<br />

notification <strong>of</strong> impasse on Thursday morning. Prior to removing Juror No. 10, the<br />

court said:<br />

All right. This court, based upon what Juror No. 10 has described for this<br />

court, finds that there is juror misconduct. The fact that the juror maybe<br />

believed that there is a verdict, it is actually a taking <strong>of</strong> a vote. Jurors take<br />

several votes and continue deliberating. The only time they have a verdict<br />

is when they sign the verdict form. The fact that they may have taken a<br />

vote, even ifthey're at an impasse, did not mean there was a verdict.<br />

Now that she has discussed the matter with outside parties, it effectively<br />

takes away the opportunity for this court to even give further instructions or<br />

further readbacks, and that taints the process, that closes it; and the only<br />

thing that I can say is that it happened not in the guilt phase, but at the<br />

penalty phase on Wednesday night, specifically or [sic] Wednesday after<br />

adjournment; and the only thing that she disclosed to the jurors, as I<br />

understand from her statement, is that she said she confided in her mother<br />

and a friend.<br />

So therefore, based upon the case <strong>of</strong> People v. Daniels, 52 Ca1.3d 815, this<br />

court fmds based upon the juror's demeanor, and also based upon the<br />

juror's comments, that there is misconduct on the juror's part pursuant to<br />

137

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