Washington v. State

In this criminal appeal, the defendant contends that the trial judge erred in excusing a juror and replacing her with an alternate. The trial judge permitted the jurors to submit questions to be asked of the witnesses but removed the juror in controversy on the ground that her questions violated the court’s instructions. This, we conclude, was an abuse of discretion. Although the juror asked many questions, there was nothing in her questions to suggest that she intended to disobey the trial court’s instructions or that she was otherwise unable to serve as a fair and impartial juror. Because…