in the Interest of M.G.N. and A.C.N., Minor Children, 441 S.W.3d 246

Background

Divorce case in which both parents sought sole managing conservatorship of two children and agreed to a jury trial.
Twelve jurors were empaneled with one alternate. During trial, Juror Turney disclosed personal knowledge of a witness (Tim Smoot) and said he might share that outside knowledge with other jurors.
The trial court, over defense objection, dismissed Turney as disqualified and seated the alternate.
Later a different juror, Park, became ill and could not confirm when he could return; the trial court proceeded with the remaining eleven jurors and denied a mistrial motion.
The eleven-member jury returned a unanimous verdict. The court of appeals reversed, holding dismissal of Turney (not constitutionally disabled) led to an unconstitutional eleven-person jury.
The Texas Supreme Court granted review, held the court of appeals conflated statutory substitution and constitutional disability standards, reversed, and remanded for further consideration consistent with those distinct standards.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether an alternate may replace a regular juror only if the juror is "constitutionally disabled"	George: dismissal and resulting 11-member jury violated the Constitution because Turney was not constitutionally disabled	Monica: alternate substitution is authorized by statute when a juror is "unable or disqualified" and is distinct from constitutional disability	Court: statutory substitution (for disqualification/unable) is distinct from constitutional disability; substitution need not meet constitutional-disability standard so long as substitution does not reduce jury below 12
Whether juror bias/disqualification under statute equals constitutional "disability from sitting"	George: a juror's partiality should not justify replacement unless it rises to constitutional disability	Monica: statutory disqualification (bias) suffices to substitute an alternate; constitutional disability is a different, typically physical/mental inability	Court: did not decide generally whether bias can be constitutional disability; held statutory disqualification and constitutional disability are separate standards
Whether dismissal of Turney (not constitutionally disabled) made the later dismissal of Park result in an unconstitutional 11-member jury	George: because Turney was not constitutionally disabled, his dismissal caused the final jury to be 11 and violated art. V, §13	Monica: because Turney was properly substituted under statute, the later dismissal of Park (if constitutionally disabled) could leave an 11-member jury only if Park was constitutionally disabled and no alternate remained	Court: remanded — court of appeals erred by conflating standards; it must first assess whether substitution of the alternate for Turney was proper under the statute and then whether Park was constitutionally disabled to justify proceeding with 11 jurors
Appropriate remedy and next steps on remand	George: new trial because constitutional right to 12-person jury was violated	Monica: remand to evaluate statutory substitution and Park's disability; no per se new-trial ruling	Court: reversed court of appeals and remanded for consideration whether the trial court abused its discretion on substitution and on proceeding with eleven jurors

Key Cases Cited

Fin. Comm’n of Tex. v. Norwood, 418 S.W.3d 566 (Tex. 2013) (standard of review for construction of statutes and constitution)
Nathan v. Whittington, 408 S.W.3d 870 (Tex. 2013) (de novo review for legal questions)
Schlafly v. Schlafly, 33 S.W.3d 863 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2000) (statutory alternate juror substitution under Gov’t Code §62.020)
McDaniel v. Yarbrough, 898 S.W.2d 251 (Tex. 1995) (examples of what qualifies as juror "disability"—travel/attendance issues)
Houston & T.C. Ry. Co. v. Waller, 56 Tex. 331 (Tex. 1882) (historical statement that illness preventing further service is a juror "disability")