Commonwealth v. Pedro Vasquez

Summary

The court held that the trial judge abused his discretion by failing to investigate allegations that a juror made racially biased statements during deliberations and by failing to conduct individual voir dire of the other jurors. Although the defendant did not timely object and therefore waived automatic structural-error review, the insufficient investigation created a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice. The court vacated all convictions and remanded for a new trial.