In Arnold v. State , 274 Ga. App. 187 617 SE2d 169 2005, the Court of Appeals held that the trial court abused its discretion by removing a juror who questioned the impartiality of the trial court and humiliated, insulted, and cursed at other jurors during deliberations. Based on the evidence of record, we find that the trial court did not abuse its discretion, and hereby reverse. On January 7, 2003, the Lowndes County Superior Court commenced a jury trial on charges brought against George Arnold for selling cocaine in violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act, OCGA § 16-13-30. On the first afternoon of deliberations, the jury quickly deadlocked, and the trial court adjourned the proceedings for the day. At some point the following morning, the jurors sent a note to the judge asking if a new foreman could be appointed. The trial court responded that it was up to the jury to elect a new foreman if it chose to do so. Around lunchtime, the jury requested a written copy of the State’s voir dire questions, which the trial court provided. Later that afternoon, the trial judge received a second note concerning the foreman in which a juror wrote: “any juror especially the foreman who tells another juror to go to hell should be removed”
After discussing the issue of the foreman’s behavior at length with counsel for both the State and the defense, the trial court called the foreman into the courtroom and questioned him about the contents of the note. The foreman stated that he might have told another juror to go to hell, but he could not remember. He admitted that there had been heated arguments during deliberations and that he had told another juror that “if she didn’t like it she could get out . . .” The foreman further explained that he believed that the jury’s prior request for the State’s voir dire questions was made in response to a conversation between himself and another juror during which they both stated that they had previously been accused by police of crimes that they had not committed. The foreman explained that he had once been arrested for drunk driving when he had not been drinking, but that the incident did not affect his impartiality. The foreman further stated that the jury requested the voir dire questions in order to discredit him, apparently because either he or the juror whom he spoke to about negative experiences with law enforcement had failed to provide this information during voir dire.