Von January v. State

In Von January v. State, 576 S.W.2d 43 (Tex. Crim. App. 1978), the Court considered whether the trial court erred by failing to grant defendant a new trial when it later became apparent that a juror knew the family of the deceased victim. Juror Dunn did not respond when defense counsel asked if the venire knew the victim's family. The Court stated that "when a partial, biased, or prejudiced juror is selected without fault or lack of diligence on the part of defense counsel, who has acted in good faith upon the answers given to him on voir dire not knowing them to be inaccurate, good ground exists for a new trial." Id. at 45. If Juror Dunn had answered the questions correctly, the defendant could have pursued further questioning and, in all probability, Juror Dunn would not have served on the jury. See id. Therefore, the Court concluded that the trial court erred in failing to grant defendant's motion for new trial. See id. at 46.