Date of Offense
Statement
Judge Michael D. Carter committed reversible constitutional error in People v. Heaps, No. B329296, by failing to disclose a substantive jury note to counsel during deliberations and by permitting off-the-record ex parte communications with deliberating jurors through his judicial assistant. The jury note raised serious concerns about Juror No. 15’s English proficiency, ability to deliberate, and possible premature decision-making. Judge Carter did not notify counsel, did not conduct a recorded inquiry, and did not create an adequate record of what was communicated to the jury or how the jury resolved the issue.
Judge Carter’s handling of the jury note deprived the defendant of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel at a critical stage of the criminal proceeding. His failure to involve counsel prevented adversarial participation on a material juror-competency and deliberation issue. His use of unrecorded staff communications with the jury created an undisclosed and unreviewable intrusion into jury deliberations. The resulting constitutional violation was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt and required reversal of the criminal judgment and remand for a new trial.
