Cook County Public Defenders Blog

A defendant’s right to a fair trial was violated when a juror appeared to sleep during almost the entire trial. People v. Jones, 2006 Ill.App.Lexis 1204 (1st Dist., 12/26/06). In the case, the defendant was charged with burglary and was tried before a jury. During a sidebar, the judge informed the attorneys that he noticed that one of the jurors was “half-asleep during almost the entire proceeding.” The attorneys and the court took no further action, and the defendant was convicted. On appeal, the First District reversed the defendant’s conviction. The Jones court noted that a juror who is inattentive for a substantial portion of the trial is unqualified to remain on the jury.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 17th, 2007 at 7:17 pm and is filed under Hot Legal Topics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.