People v. Shaw

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Bonnie G. Wittner, J.), rendered January 3, 2005, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of rape in the first degree and burglary in the second and third degrees, and sentencing him, as a second violent felony offender, to an aggregate term of 20 to 40 years, unanimously reversed, on the law, and the matter remanded for a new trial.

When defense counsel advised the court that a juror had inappropriately approached him and made comments indicating a possible bias against the defense, the court should have granted counsel’s request to make an inquiry…