State v. Cook

CHASANOW, Judge.

In the present ease, we are asked to review a trial judge’s decision in a criminal trial to remove a seated juror and replace him with an alternate juror pursuant to Maryland Rule 4-312. We hold that the defendant is not entitled to a new trial by virtue of the juror replacement.

I

This case stems from the 1993 conviction in the Circuit Court for Harford County of Harold Thomas Cook on charges of sexually abusing his stepdaughter from the summer of 1974 until December, 1977.1 At trial, the victim testified that the abuse began on a family vacation in Ocean City and continued…