[Download] "Commonwealth v. Gerald Amirault" by Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts " eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Commonwealth v. Gerald Amirault
- Author : Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
- Release Date : January 13, 1987
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 67 KB
Description
In a case where a criminal defendant moved for a new trial on the ground that his right to a fair and impartial jury, guaranteed him by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, was impaired by misconduct of a juror, due process was satisfied by a hearing before the trial Judge, in which the defendant had the opportunity to show by a preponderance of the evidence that the juror was actually biased because the juror knowingly made a false answer to a material question at pretrial voir dire and that prejudice resulted from such dishonesty. [624-626] In denying a motion for a new trial based on an allegation of juror misconduct, in a case where the defendant was convicted on numerous indictments for rape and sexual abuse of children, the trial Judge, after a hearing in which he found, on sufficient evidence, that the juror had honestly answered questions at pretrial voir dire, that the juror's nondisclosure of having been a victim of a sexual offense was unintentional, and that the juror during the course of the trial had demonstrated conscientiousness, properly concluded that the juror was not actually biased with respect to the defendant and was impartial. [626-627]