State v. Roberts

OPINION

LANSING, Judge.

This appeal from felony convictions raises two jury-composition issues. The first issue involves the number of jurors required by the Minnesota Constitution and permitted by the Minnesota Rules of Criminal Procedure. The second involves the method by which a jury can be reduced to a number less than that selected for trial. We conclude that a defendant’s waiver of his right to a twelve-person jury and agreement to allow an alternate to deliberate is not constitutional or plain error. But it is plain error for the district court, without the defendant’s personal…