The National Trial Lawyers
  • Home
    • Meet Our Team
    • Contact Us
    • Mission & Goals
    • FAQ
  • Webinars
  • News
  • Membership Directory
    • Top 100 Map – Civil Plaintiff
    • Top 100 Map – Criminal Defense
    • Top 40 Under 40 Map – Civil Plaintiff
    • Top 40 Under 40 Map – Criminal Defense
  • Top 100
    • Civil Plaintiff Officers / Executive Committee
    • Criminal Defense Officers / Executive Committee
    • Benefits
    • About
    • Top 100 Presidents Message
    • Diplomat
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Top 100 Badge
  • Top 40
    • Civil Plaintiff Officers / Executive Committee
    • Criminal Defense Officers / Executive Committee
    • Top 40 Under 40 Trial Academy Bootcamp
    • Benefits
    • About
    • Top 40 Presidents Message
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Top 40 Badge
  • Specialty Assoc
    • About
    • Shop
    • Officers
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
  • Nominate
    • Top 100
    • Top 40
    • Specialty Association
    • Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame
    • Trial Lawyer of the Year
    • Trial Team of the Year
    • America’s Most Influential Trial Lawyer
    • America’s Most Influential Law Firm
    • Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Shop
  • Magazine
    • A-List
  • Education and Networking Agenda
    • Trial Lawyers Summit
    • Top 40 Under 40 Trial Academy Boot Camp
    • Mass Torts Made Perfect
    • The Lanier Trial Academy Master Class 6.0
    • The Business Of Law
    • Webinars
  • Hall of Fame
    • Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame

AZ Supreme Court Affirms Conviction Even Though Juror Switched Mid-Trial

Posted on May 6, 2016 by Larry Bodine

AZ JurorThe Arizona Supreme Court ruled that switching a pro-defense juror in the middle of a sex-crime case did not prejudice the outcome.

Knute Kolmann filed for post-conviction relief after a juror was dismissed during jury deliberations for personal reasons.

Juror L.M. stated she was “not competent to judge anyone’s guilt or innocence.” The judge reaffirmed the juror’s concern and dismissed her without objection by either counsel.

Kolmann was on trial for sexual exploitation of a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual exploitation of a minor. He was sentenced to 155 years and the appeals court affirmed his conviction.

Kolmann had the burden of proving that the facts alleged would have changed his verdict.

Juror L.M., in a 2010 affidavit obtained by Kolmann, stated she truthfully wanted to be excused because she did not want to cause a hung jury and that she disagreed with fellow jurors.

On appeal, Kolmann argued ineffective assistance of trial counsel, ineffective assistance of appellate counsel, and juror misconduct. Kolmann ultimately believed had the juror remained there was a strong possibility of a hung jury at the end of trial.

Deficient Performance & Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

To establish deficient performance, a defendant must show that his counsel’s assistance was not reasonable under professional standards, “considering all the circumstances.”

For a favorable ruling, Kolmann had to overcome the presumption that counsel acted within a broad range of professional assistance; This required that counsel’s actions were a result of inexperience, lack of preparation, or other lack of professionalism.

Kolmann argued counsel erred by waiving his right to be present when the juror was excused. The court stated the right to be present during each stage of a trial is not absolute. Defense counsel or defendants may waive the right to be present.

The court found that Kolmann failed to show how the lawyer’s absence negatively impacted his case. This claim was dismissed for failure to state a colorable claim.

Independent Questioning Not Required

The defendant also believed counsel’s inexperience showed when he failed to independently question the juror.

The defendant argued further that the attorney’s lack of experience with the situation caused a failure to independently question the juror. This claim was dismissed because Kolmann did not provide any supporting facts or legal authority suggesting his counsel was unreasonable.

Deliberations Continued with Alternate

Under Arizona Rule of Civil Procedure 18.5(h) the trial judge has broad discretion to excuse a deliberating juror for an inability to perform required duties, and to request an alternate.

The same rule requires the trial court provide instructions to all jurors to start deliberations from the beginning to include the alternate juror.

The trial judge provided similar instructions but this occurred before the replacement was brought in.

Although the alternate did not have the benefit of hearing the full trial, existing jurors were to bring the alternate “up to speed.” Once the deliberations started again, the jury took only 70 minutes to reach a verdict.

This alone did not constitute ineffective counsel, nor did  the time frame of the jury deliberations.

All of Kolmann’s claims were denied and the court affirmed the lower courts decision.

This case is State or Arizona v. Knute Kolmann, Case No 15-0172-PR, Arizona Supreme Court.

Posted in Blog, Criminal Law / DUI

Comments are closed.

News Categories

Read about other Top Jury Verdicts

Defrauded College Students Will Have $6 Billion Forgiven in a New Settlement

Defrauded College Students Will Have $6 Billion Forgiven in a New Settlement

The Biden administration has agreed to cancel $6 billion in student loans for about 200,000 former students who say they were[Read More...]
An Iowa City Settles Lawsuit Over a Deadly Police Shooting For $5 Million

An Iowa City Settles Lawsuit Over a Deadly Police Shooting For $5 Million

Burlington, Iowa, has agreed to pay $5 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the mother of a man who was shot[Read More...]
Co-Owners File a $695 Million Lawsuit Against Georgia Power Over a Contract Dispute

Co-Owners File a $695 Million Lawsuit Against Georgia Power Over a Contract Dispute

The owners of a majority share of a nuclear power plant being expanded in Georgia are suing lead owner Georgia Power Co., cla[Read More...]
A Tesla Worker Rejects a $15 Million Race Bias Settlement

A Tesla Worker Rejects a $15 Million Race Bias Settlement

A Black former elevator operator at Tesla Inc's flagship California assembly plant on Tuesday rejected a $15 million award in[Read More...]
Juneteenth Freedom Day

Juneteenth Freedom Day

History Prior to Juneteenth African tribe members were kidnapped, sold into slavery in the American colonies, and exp[Read More...]

#LegalNews

@@TheNTLtop100

Contact Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy

Attorney information and content provided on this website is provided for the benefit of members of The National Trial Lawyers and as a public service by Legal Associations Management, Inc. The website and all data are the property of Legal Associations Management, Inc. Data, including without limitation attorney information and content, on the site may not be mined, sold, or used commercially for any purpose without the explicit written consent of Legal Associations Management, Inc. This site may not be accessed by any automated program for extracting data for any use. By accessing and using the site you agree that you will not develop, support or use software, devices, scripts, robots, or any other means or processes (including crawlers, browser plug-ins and add-ons, or any other technology) to scrape data or otherwise copy profiles and other data. Unauthorized use or attempted unauthorized use of this system may subject you to both civil and criminal penalties.