People v. Cleveland

Defendant Roshay D. Cleveland was convicted, following a jury trial, of two counts of attempted second degree robbery. (Pen. Code, §§ 664, 211.) He argued on appeal that the trial court erred in discharging a juror, during deliberations, for failing to deliberate and for prejudging the case. The Court of Appeal reversed the judgment of conviction. We granted the People’s petition for review to consider the standard a trial court should employ in deciding whether to discharge a juror under such circumstances, and to determine whether the Court of Appeal reached the correct result in this instance. We affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal.

I

On the evening of September 20, 1997, Fernando Figueroa and Victor Medina were working behind the counter in a liquor store. Defendant, who was a regular customer, entered and purchased a bottle of tequila. Appearing upset, defendant said to Figueroa: “Give me the shit.” Figueroa did not know what defendant meant. Defendant was hitting himself on the chest and acting strangely. Defendant then asked Figueroa for a gun. There was a gun under *470 the counter directly in front of Figueroa, but Figueroa never had mentioned the gun to…

I concur fully in the majority’s decision to affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal. I write separately to clarify the applicable legal standard appellate courts must apply when reviewing a trial court’s decision to discharge, or not discharge, a sitting juror for failure or inability to deliberate. As the majority explains, Penal Code section 1089 authorizes a trial court to discharge a juror if, among other reasons, “good cause” is shown that the juror is “unable to perform his duty.” We have on several occasions explained that a trial court’s determination of good cause under section 1089 is subject to the deferential abuse-of-discretion standard, meaning that we will uphold the trial court’s decision to discharge, or not discharge, a juror if there is substantial evidence supporting it. (See, e.g., People v. Marshall (1996) 13 Cal.4th 799, 843 [ 55 Cal.Rptr.2d 347 , 919 P.2d 1280 ]; People v. Beeler (1995) 9 Cal.4th 953, 975 [ 39 Cal.Rptr.2d 607 , 891 P.2d 153 ]; People v. Johnson (1993) 6 Cal.4th 1, 21 [ 23 Cal.Rptr.2d 593 , 859 P.2d 673 ]; People v. Price (1991) 1 Cal.4th 324, 400 [ 3 Cal.Rptr.2d 106 , 821 P.2d 610 ].) However, if that were the extent of the appropriate…

Defendant Roshay D. Cleveland was convicted, following a jury trial, of two counts of attempted second degree robbery. (Pen.Code, §§ 664, 211.) He argued on appeal that the trial court erred in discharging a juror, during deliberations, for failing to deliberate and for prejudging the case. The Court of Appeal reversed the judgment of conviction. We granted the People's petition for review to consider the standard a trial court should employ in deciding whether to discharge a juror under such circumstances, and to determine whether the Court of Appeal reached the correct result in this instance. We affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal.

On the evening of September 20, 1997, Fernando Figueroa and Victor Medina were working behind the counter in a liquor store. Defendant, who was a regular customer, entered and purchased a bottle of tequila. Appearing upset, defendant said to Figueroa: "Give me the shit." Figueroa did not know what defendant meant. Defendant was hitting himself on the chest and acting strangely. Defendant then asked Figueroa for a gun. There was a gun under the counter directly in front of Figueroa, but Figueroa never had mentioned the gun to…