Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Sure, but if the mistrial wasn't declared at the time, then what you have now are grounds for an appeal or a motion for new trial. If serious about pursuing those, feel free to contact me to discuss the facts and the reality of the costs involved.

If a juror has difficulty with English he or she is supposed to say so during jury selection. If a juror instead withholds this information until the middle of trial, then he or she almost certainly would have to be dismissed. Dismissal of a juror would not necessarily require a mistrial. There are one or two alternate jurors in most cases; the members of the jury may not even find out which of them are alternates until after closing arguments.

But even if there are no alternates available, the prosecutor and defense counsel have the option of agreeing to proceed with only 11 jurors instead of 12. Normally defense counsel would not do this, but if the remaining 11 jurors seem sympathetic to the defendant this might be a sensible risk to take.

If the court refuses to dismiss the juror and the defendant is later convicted, the defendant would probably have a good issue to raise on appeal. If that is your situation, please feel free to contact me directly. I am a certified specialist in appellate practice (per the State Bar of California's Board of Legal Specialization) and would be happy to discuss your case with you.