Appellant McCowen Brief - Mass Cases
Appellant McCowen Brief - Mass Cases
Appellant McCowen Brief - Mass Cases
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post-verdict dinner with the prosecutor at Wimpy's, and<br />
her first-hand observation of Gomes ' post-trial<br />
testimony. App. 58, MNTR. 2/1/08, 21-24. Record evidence<br />
amassed at post-trial hearings proved this jury did not<br />
take its job seriously. It matters not whether a single<br />
juror, OF the entire panel, was exposed to racial bias;<br />
a criminal defendant is "entitled to be tried by twelve,<br />
not nine or even ten, impartial and unprejudiced<br />
jurors." Parker v. Gladden, 385 U.S. 363, 366 (1966).<br />
<strong>McCowen</strong> deserves a new trial. It is clear that "[tlhe<br />
judge who examines on the voir dire is engaged in the<br />
process of organizing the court. If the answera to the<br />
questions are willfully evasive or knowingly untrue, the<br />
talesmanAs a juxox in name only." Clark v. United<br />
States, 289 U,S, 1, 11 (1933). <strong>McCowen</strong> proved by a<br />
preponderance of the evidence that Gomes ' presence on<br />
the panel was a sham. The Commonwealth offered no<br />
rebuttal e<br />
The magnitude of these transgressions is enormous.<br />
Flagrant misconduct makes thia a rare case; this Court<br />
must presume juror bias. See Burton v. Johnson, 948 F.2d<br />
1150 (10th Cix. 1991). A defendant who shows a juror<br />
"failed to answer honestly a material question on voir<br />
dire, and then further shows that a correct response<br />
would have provided a valid basis for a challenge for<br />
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