United States v. Antonio Ciranda-Sanchez

MEMORANDUM

The district court did not abuse its discretion by substituting an alternate juror because of the original juror’s loud, distracting cough. A district court abuses its discretion when it “base[s] its ruling on an erroneous view of the law or a clearly erroneous assessment of the evidence.” United States v. Hinkson, 585 F.3d 1247, 1259 (9th Cir.2009) (en banc) (quoting Cooter & Gell v. Hartmarx Corp., 496 U.S. 384, 405 , 110 S.Ct. 2447 , 110 L.Ed.2d 359 (1990) (internal quotation marks omitted)). Neither error occurred in this case.

Whether a juror is unable to continue to serve “is the kind of question peculiarly suited to the exercise of discretion by the trial judge.” United States v. Echavarria-Olarte, 904 F.2d 1391, 1395 (9th Cir.1990). Although the original juror was willing to complete her jury service, the district court observed not only her cough, but the other jurors’ reactions to her cough. The district court’s determination that the cough’s distraction to both the juror herself and the other jurors required the substitution of an alternate juror “is one that a rational jurist could have made based on the record presented to him.” See United States v.…