A man serving 50 years-to-life for the murder and sexual assault of a 5-year-old boy will receive a new trial because the judge trying his case failed to properly explore allegations that two jurors showed bias prior to the start of deliberations, a divided appeals court said.
Erie County Supreme Court Justice Christopher Burns put a woman on the stand under oath to have her relate a conversation, in which she said she overheard two jurors refer to defendant Matthew Kuzdzal as a “scumbag” while on a cigarette break during the 2014 trial. The woman also said she had seen the jurors in the back row of the jury box “laughing and making faces.”
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