Reginald Turon Hill v. State, 475 S.W.3d 407

Hill was convicted of aggravated sexual assault and sentenced to 50 years in the Texas Institutional Division.
During deliberations, the trial court sua sponte discharged a juror for not being a citizen of Harris County and replaced her with an alternate.
Neither party objected to the juror's removal; the State objected to the court's action being sua sponte, but conceded error.
Texas law allows replacement of a disqualified juror with an alternate; the waiver of the county-citizenship requirement is permitted.
The trial court’s removal of the juror was held to be error, but the jury remained 12 properly selected members with the alternate.
The appellate court held the error did not affect substantial rights and affirmed the judgment.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court erred in replacing a juror sua sponte.	Hill argues the removal violated the statutory scheme and constitutional protections.	State concedes error but argues the court’s action did not prejudice Hill.	Error occurred but was not reversible; substantial rights were not affected.

Mayo v. State, 4 S.W.3d 9 (Tex. Crim. App. 1999) (waiver of county-citizenship requirement for jury service)
Whitehead v. State, 437 S.W.3d 547 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2014) (abuse of discretion in removing a juror when not unable or disqualified)
Scales v. State, 380 S.W.3d 780 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012) (discusses whether misstep in juror replacement is constitutional or statutory error)
Sandoval v. State, 409 S.W.3d 259 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013) (same treatment as Scales regarding juror replacement)
Sneed v. State, 209 S.W.3d 782 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2006) (non-constitutional error analysis for juror issues; substantial rights)
Ponce v. State, 68 S.W.3d 718 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2001) (non-constitutional error; substantial rights analysis)
Crist v. Bretz, 437 U.S. 28 (U.S. 1978) (discusses federal double jeopardy context for jury composition)