IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA
FIFTH DISTRICT
JANUARY TERM 2008
JASON GILES TUCKER,
Appellant,
v.
Case No. 5D06-3142
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
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Opinion filed June 20, 2008
Appeal from the Circuit Court
for Brevard County,
Lisa Davidson, Judge.
James S. Purdy, Public Defender, and
Anne Moorman Reeves, Assistant Public
Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.
Bill McCollum, Attorney General,
Tallahassee, and Allison Leigh Morris,
Assistant Attorney General, Daytona
Beach, for Appellee.
TORPY, J.
Appellant challenges his convictions for premeditated first-degree murder and
sexual battery with great force. His sole point on appeal relates to the purported
statutory disqualification of one of the jurors who served on his case. Appellant
contends that one of the jurors was “under prosecution” while she sat on the jury
because she had received a citation for a criminal traffic offense on the day the jury was
sworn. As a consequence, Appellant urges that he is entitled to a new trial even though
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he made no showing that the juror was actually biased. We conclude that the juror was
not “under prosecution,” as that phrase is used in the jury qualification statute, because
the state attorney had not received and acted on the juror’s citation. Alternatively, we
conclude that the remedy of a new trial is not available to Appellant, absent a showing
of prejudice. Accordingly, we affirm.
The body of the victim was found on the floor of the sauna at her apartment
complex. Her neck had been cut; there were scrapes and abrasions on her face and
body, and she had two broken ribs. She also had injuries to her genitalia and bowel.
The pathologist opined that the victim had died of asphyxia due to manual strangulation.
DNA found in the victim’s vagina and from a semen stain on her swimsuit matched
Appellant’s. Fingerprints found on a beer bottle, interior kitchen door, stovetop