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FOR CAUSE CHALLENGE SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED, JUROR WAS A LONG-TERM FRIEND OF AN INVESTIGATOR WORKING ON DEFENDANT’S CASE.

The Third Department, reversing defendant’s conviction, determined defendant’s for cause challenge to a juror, who had been friends for 30 years with an investigator working on defendant’s case, should have been granted, despite the juror’s assurance he could be fair:

The juror’s mere status as a law enforcement officer, without more, would not necessarily have required his disqualification, nor would any relationship with a member of the District Attorney’s staff that was “little more than a nodding acquaintance” … . However, the juror described the investigator as a “friend,” and said that their social relationship had endured for more than 30 years and was sufficiently close to include the juror’s wife. While the juror did not specifically describe the recency or frequency of his contacts with this investigator, nothing in his description of their relationship suggested any recent lessening in the strength of this longstanding connection. Further, the investigator in question was working on defendant’s case, had already appeared in the courtroom by the time the juror was questioned and, according to the prosecutor, might continue to be present during the trial. People v Montford, 2016 NY Slip Op 08901, 3rd Dept 12-29-16

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