State v. Castle

The defendant was tried before a jury on four counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault. In this appeal he challenges the propriety of an ex parte conversation between the Trial Court (Dalianis, J.) and a juror. We reverse and remand.

At trial, after the court had instructed the jury and adjourned for lunch, one of the jurors asked to speak to the judge. Jury deliberations had not yet begun. The judge held an ex parte discussion with the juror off the record concerning the juror’s realization that he recognized the victim’s father, who had been present in the courtroom, as someone who was…