Monday, November 08, 2021

People v. Revels (Cal. Ct. App. - Nov. 8, 2021)

I've seen (or read about) a lot of weird things happening in court; clients assaulting their lawyers, lawyers going crazy in front of the judge, witnesses freaking out, etc.

But I've never heard of (1) a juror looking like she's fallen asleep (okay, that one happens a lot, but wait for it . . .), (2) the trial judge calling the juror's name four times, still with no response, (3) a doctor who's an expert witness on the stand at the time going over to the juror and checking her out, and then (4) after examining the juror, declaring: "She doesn't have a pulse."

Yikes!

Given the various admonitions and other curative efforts here, the Court of Appeal holds that there was no prejudice in not ordering a mistrial.

Still:  Freaky, eh?

P.S. - The juror ended up just fine, thankfully.