Appeals Court orders hearing in drug case after juror racism alleged

A state appeals court has sent a drug case back to the trial court because of possible improper juror conduct.

Defendant Derrick Woodard, 52, was convicted in Monroe County in January 2017 of second-degree conspiracy, third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Woodard was prosecuted with three co-defendants for involvement in a multi-level drug selling operation.

State Supreme Court Justice Judge Alex R. Renzi sentenced Woodard to one to three years in state prison and Woodard has already completed his sentence and is free.

In a decision released Friday, the Appellate Division of reserved decision and sent the case back to state Supreme Court in Monroe County for a hearing on a juror issue.

The Fourth Department rejected arguments on several issues raised by Woodard’s appellate lawyer Kathleen P. Reardon.

But the court agreed that Renzi should not have summarily denied a defense motion to set aside the verdict under New York State Criminal Procedure Law Section 330.30 (2).

Under CPL 30.30 (2) a verdict can be set aside when there is improper conduct by a juror outside the presence of the court that could have affected a right of the defendant.

Setting aside the verdict “is warranted where a juror had an undisclosed preexisting prejudice that would have resulted in his or her disqualification if it had been revealed during voir dire, such as an undisclosed, pretrial opinion of guilt against the defendant,” the panel wrote, quoting from People v Rivera, a 2003 Second Department decision.

“Here, we conclude that the court erred in denying defendant’s motion without a hearing because the sworn allegations in support of the motion, including the affidavits of two jurors, indicated that certain other jurors may have had undisclosed preexisting prejudices against people of defendant’s race that may have affected defendant’s substantial right to an impartial jury and fair trial,” the panel wrote.

Woodard is a Black man.

The evening after the verdict, two jurors alleged in emails sent to Renzi that, during deliberations, some other jurors “directed racist comments at the defendants and that racial bias had played a role in the verdict,” according to the decision.

“In addition, contrary to the court’s suggestion, the detailed affidavits of the two jurors recounting specific instances of racist comments by certain other jurors did, in fact, allege that the verdict was influenced by racial bias against the defendants,” the court wrote.

“We therefore hold the case, reserve decision and remit the matter to Supreme Court to conduct a hearing on defendant’s CPL 330.30 motion,” the panel wrote.

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