State v. Valenzuela

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

STEIN, J.

In this appeal we consider whether the trial court properly exercised its discretion pursuant to Rule 1:8—2(d) in discharging a juror and substituting an alternate juror after the jury had begun deliberations. The reconstituted jury convicted defendant of second-degree sexual assault and acquitted him of fourth-degree theft. The Appellate Division reversed the conviction, citing as errors the dismissal of a juror who was not clearly unable to continue, the court’s failure to choose by lot which alternate juror would replace the dismissed…