State v. Mayfield

In State v. Mayfield, 235 S.C. 11, 109 S.E.2d 716, 723-24 (S.C. 1959), the Supreme Court of South Carolina held that the defendant had failed to show that the jury had not been sworn where, as here, the record was devoid of any mention of the swearing of the jury. The Supreme Court of South Carolina stated: Absence of affirmative statement in the transcript that the jury was sworn furnishes no factual support for the defendant's contention that it was not. The defendant's statement that the jury was not sworn stands alone, and is, in our opinion, insufficient to overcome the contrary presumption. But if indeed the jury was not sworn, that was a fact known to the defendant during the trial and which he should then and there have called to the attention of the trial court. His contention, made for the first time more than eight years afterwards, comes too late. One may not take his chance of a favorable verdict and, after an unfavorable one, raise an objection that should have been made before the verdict was rendered. Id.