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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 />

-42-

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