People v. Clayton

Defendant was convicted, after jury trial, of 1st degree murder. Court dismissed a juror because he was repeatedly inattentive and appeared to be sleeping during trial. No abuse of discretion in court's decision to excuse that juror, even though it came after he revealed his dismissive view of the evidence presented up to that point.No violation of due process or plain error when defense counsel waived Defendant's presence during in camera questioning of and discussion with alternate juror who first reported seeing juror sleeping, and with that juror who admitted he had fallen asleep. (O'BRIEN and LYTTON, concurring.)