Bill Text: NY S05004 | 2013-2014 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Grants the court discretionary authority to retain alternate jurors after final submission of the case.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-06-04 - SUBSTITUTED BY A6553 [S05004 Detail]

Download: New_York-2013-S05004-Introduced.html

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                           S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
       ________________________________________________________________________
                                         5004
                              2013-2014 Regular Sessions
                                   I N  S E N A T E
                                      May 3, 2013
                                      ___________
       Introduced  by Sen. BONACIC -- (at request of the Office of Court Admin-
         istration) -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed  to  be
         committed to the Committee on Judiciary
       AN  ACT  to  amend  the  civil practice law and rules in relation to the
         discretionary retention of alternate jurors after final submission  of
         the case
         THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
       BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
    1    Section 1. Section 4106 of  the  civil  practice  law  and  rules,  as
    2  amended  by  chapter  336  of  the  laws  of 1972, is amended to read as
    3  follows:
    4    S 4106. Alternate jurors. [Unless the court, in its discretion, orders
    5  otherwise, one] ONE or [two] MORE additional  jurors,  to  be  known  as
    6  "alternate jurors", may be drawn upon the request of a party AND CONSENT
    7  OF THE COURT.  Such ALTERNATE JUROR OR jurors shall be drawn at the same
    8  time, from the same source, in the same manner, and have the same quali-
    9  fications  as  [the] regular jurors, and be subject to the same examina-
   10  tions and challenges. They shall be seated with, take the oath with, and
   11  be treated in the same  manner  as  the  regular  jurors[,  except  that
   12  after].  AFTER  final submission of the case, the court [shall discharge
   13  the] MAY, IN ITS DISCRETION, RETAIN SUCH alternate JUROR OR jurors[. If]
   14  TO ENSURE AVAILABILITY IF NEEDED. AT ANY TIME, before OR AFTER the final
   15  submission of the case, IF a regular juror dies, or becomes ill, or [for
   16  any other reason] is unable to perform [his duty] THE DUTIES OF A JUROR,
   17  the court may order [him to be] THAT JUROR discharged and draw the  name
   18  of  an  alternate,  OR RETAINED ALTERNATE, IF ANY, who shall replace the
   19  discharged juror [in the jury box], and be treated as if [he] THAT JUROR
   20  had been selected as one of the regular jurors.  ONCE DELIBERATIONS HAVE
   21  BEGUN, THE COURT MAY ALLOW AN ALTERNATE JUROR  TO  PARTICIPATE  IN  SUCH
   22  DELIBERATIONS  ONLY  IF  A  REGULAR  JUROR BECOMES UNABLE TO PERFORM THE
   23  DUTIES OF A JUROR.
        EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                             [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                  LBD09911-01-3
       S. 5004                             2
    1    S 2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next  succeed-
    2  ing  the date on which it shall have become a law and shall apply to all
    3  actions commenced on or after such effective date  and  to  all  pending
    4  actions  on  such  effective  date  in  which  a  jury  has not yet been
    5  selected.