PEOPLE OF MI V REGINALD EUGENE MONTGOMERY
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
UNPUBLISHED
November 22, 2005
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v
No. 255641
Genesee Circuit Court
LC No. 03-12258-FC
JEROME EDWIN MONTGOMERY,
Defendant-Appellant.
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v
No. 255689
Genesee Circuit Court
LC No. 03-012257-FC
REGINALD EUGENE MONTGOMERY,
Defendant-Appellant.
Before: Saad, P.J., and Jansen and Markey, JJ.
SAAD, P.J., (concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I concur with the majority opinion in these consolidated matters with the exception of the
majority's ruling on Jerome Montgomery's motion for a mistrial because of the issue surrounding
juror number 9. Because I conclude that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion, I
respectfully dissent from this portion of the majority's opinion.
I dissent for several reasons. After being advised of the jury's decision in the companion
case and of the alleged confession, juror number 9 appropriately reported this to the trial court
and upon questioning by the trial judge, juror number 9 assured the court that she did not share
this information with the other jurors and, importantly, she advised the court that this information
did not affect her decision about the case. Juror number 9 further assured the court that she
could set aside the outside information and base her decision solely on the evidence presented at
trial. Moreover, the entire jury was properly instructed and the trial court properly reminded
juror number 9 of her obligation to decide the case on the evidence presented at trial.
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Because this is a very close judgment call, on the record before us, I would not conclude
that the trial court abused its discretion had the court granted a new trial, as I conclude that the
court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to grant a new trial. Though we may have decided
this issue differently, because of the deference granted the trial court by the abuse of discretion
standard of review, I cannot conclude that the trial court abused his discretion and therefore, I
would affirm the trial court's decision not to grant a new trial.
/s/ Henry William Saad
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