P. v. Reynolds
A jury convicted defendant Dan W. Reynolds of two counts of lewd and lascivious acts upon a child under the age of 14 years and one count of the attempted commission of such an act, and found that defendant committed the offenses against more than one victim. He was sentenced to state prison for an aggregate term of 30 years to life.
On appeal, defendant contends that the trial court deprived him of a fair trial by jury when the court improperly dismissed Juror No. 4 during jury deliberations and interrogat[ed] each juror[, thereby] compromis[ing] the secrecy of the jurys deliberations[ and] permitt[ing] the trial court to direct the course of deliberations . . . . For reasons that follow, the court committed prejudicial error in discharging Juror No. 4 after deliberations had begun. Thus, the judgment must be reversed.
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