State v. Bunning

WEBB, Justice.

The defendant has brought forward seven assignments of error. We shall discuss two of them. The defendant first assigns error to the court’s substitution of an alternate juror for a juror who was excused after the jury had begun its sentencing deliberations. We believe this assignment of error has merit.

The jury began its deliberations shortly after lunch and continued until the evening recess. The next morning, one of the jurors asked to be excused because she said she was a manic-depressive and could not continue with the trial. The court removed this juror and replaced her…