Superior Court 7/9/08 - COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA v. JAMES MATTHEW STRUNK, JR.

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA v. JAMES MATTHEW STRUNK, JR.
No. 1422 WDA 2007 2008 PA Super 149 Atlantic: n/a Filed: 7/9/2008
Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence entered on April 20, 2007, in the Court of Common Pleas of Blair County, Criminal Division, at No(s). 05 CR 1914
Before: LALLY-GREEN, KLEIN, AND POPOVICH, JJ.
Opinion by: KLEIN, J.
Appellant, James Matthew Strunk, Jr., appeals from the judgment of sentence entered on April 20, 2007, in the Court of Common Pleas of Blair County. We affirm.

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¶ 5 Appellant raises the following issue on appeal:
I. Is your [A]ppellant entitled to a new trial
where one of the jurors may have been
sleeping during the trial and/or the charge and
where the trial judge acknowledged that the
juror had closed his eyes a couple of times?

¶ 6 Appellant claims that he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to a
fair trial by an impartial jury. This right, Appellant urges, encompasses a
jury consisting of 12 people who are paying close attention to the court’s
instruction and the evidence. Appellant argues that because Juror Number
10 was asleep at times, this juror would have to rely upon other jurors’
recollections of the evidence and the judge’s instructions. Therefore,
Appellant claims that he was effectively denied his constitutional right to a
jury of 12 people.