Title: State v. Bowser

State: kansas

Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court

Document:

252 Kan. 582 (1993)
847 P.2d 1231
STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee,
v.
CHARLES D. BOWSER, III, Appellant.
No. 67,493

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed March 5, 1993.
Wendy L. Rhyne Slayton, assistant appellate defender, argued the cause, and Steven R. Zinn, deputy appellate defender, was with her on the brief for appellant.
Michael Grosko, assistant district attorney, argued the cause, and Nick A. Tomasic, district attorney, and Robert T. Stephan, attorney general, were with him on the brief for appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
ALLEGRUCCI, J.:
The defendant, Charles Bowser, appeals from his jury convictions of three counts of aggravated robbery, K.S.A. 21-3427, and two counts of kidnapping, K.S.A. 21-3420. He was sentenced to imprisonment for a controlling term of 30 years to life.
Bowser was first tried in May 1991 on four counts of aggravated robbery, four counts of kidnapping, and one count of sexual battery. The charges arose from four separate incidents in which a female victim, upon arriving at work in the morning, was approached from behind by a knife-wielding man who demanded money, jewelry, and something with the victim's name and address on it. The jury found Bowser not guilty on two counts of kidnapping and one count of sexual battery. The jury could not *583 reach a verdict on the other six counts, and a mistrial was declared as to them.
In August 1991 Bowser was retried on the remaining two counts of kidnapping and four counts of aggravated robbery. The jury found Bowser guilty on the two kidnapping counts and three of the four aggravated robbery counts. The jury found him not guilty on the remaining aggravated robbery count.
Bowser raises two issues on appeal. First, he contends his constitutional and statutory rights to be present at all stages of trial were violated by the trial judge's ex parte communication with a juror.
During deliberations, the presiding juror sent a note to the district court judge which stated that juror Warrick wanted to be dismissed from service on the jury. In his chambers, the district court judge talked with the juror on the record. Bowser was not present, nor were the attorneys.
Juror Warrick told the district court judge that she wanted to be dismissed because 11 jurors had decided one way and she had decided the other way. Here is the discussion which followed:
"MS. WARRICK: Uh-huh.
"MS. WARRICK: Yes.
"MS. WARRICK: Because I just can't do it.
"MS. WARRICK: Uh-huh.
"MS. WARRICK: Uh-huh.
"MS. WARRICK: Uh-huh.
"MS. WARRICK: Well, I've made my decision, but 
"MS. WARRICK: And my decision is not the same.
"MS. WARRICK: Uh-huh.
"MS. WARRICK: Right.
"MS. WARRICK: Right.
"MS. WARRICK: Right.
"MS. WARRICK: Right.
"MS. WARRICK: Uh-huh.
"MS. WARRICK: Yes, we have.
"MS. WARRICK: Right.
"MS. WARRICK: Okay.
"MS. WARRICK: Am I?
"MS. WARRICK: Uh-huh.
"MS. WARRICK: Okay.
"MS. WARRICK: No.
"MS. WARRICK: Uh-huh.
"MS. WARRICK: Yeah.
"MS. WARRICK: Okay.
"MS. WARRICK: Okay.
"THE COURT: All right?
"MS. WARRICK: All right."
*586 The district court judge had said to juror Warrick, "[I]t's about time to go home now." After sending her back to the jury room, the judge met briefly with counsel. He told the prosecuting attorney and Bowser's attorney of his discussion with the juror. The prosecutor stated, "I have no problem with the way you handled it." Defense counsel stated, "I don't see much else you could do." The jurors were returned to the courtroom, and the judge announced that it was "twelve minutes to 5:00, so I'm going to send you home until tomorrow morning." The jurors were asked to be present to begin deliberating at 8:50 the next morning.
Sometime the following morning the jury returned its verdict. The record does not indicate what time the jury returned its verdict; however, the jury verdict was file-stamped at 10:35 a.m. Defense counsel did not request that the jurors be polled.
A criminal defendant's federal constitutional right to be present at all stages of trial "is rooted to a large extent in the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment," but the United States Supreme Court has "recognized that this right is protected by the Due Process Clause in some situations where the defendant is not actually confronting witnesses or evidence against him." United States v. Gagnon, 470 U.S. 522, 526, 84 L. Ed. 2d 486, 105 S. Ct. 1482 (1985). A defendant has a due process right to be present at a proceeding where a "fair and just hearing would be thwarted by his absence." Snyder v. Massachusetts, 291 U.S. 97, 108, 78 L. Ed. 674, 54 S. Ct. 330 (1934).
In Kansas a criminal defendant's statutory right to be present is found in K.S.A. 22-3405. It provides in pertinent part as follows: "The defendant in a felony case shall be present at the arraignment, at every stage of the trial including the impaneling of the jury and the return of the verdict, and at the imposition of sentence, except as otherwise provided by law." This court has held that the failure to have defendant present at a conference in the judge's chambers between the judge and a juror is a "clear violation of the statute." State v. Knapp, 234 Kan. 170, 180, 671 P.2d 520 (1983).
In addition, K.S.A. 22-3420(3) provides:
No Kansas cases have been brought to the court's attention, however, in which a conviction was reversed on this ground. The convictions have been upheld either because the defendant waived the right to be present, see, e.g., State v. Sandstrom, 225 Kan. 717, 721-22, 595 P.2d 324, cert. denied 444 U.S. 942 (1979), or because the error was harmless, see, e.g., Knapp, 234 Kan. at 182, and State v. Lovely, 237 Kan. 838, 845, 703 P.2d 828 (1985); in other words, because a "fair and just hearing" had not been thwarted by the defendant's absence.
The State does not contend that Bowser waived his right to be present during the in chambers conference with the juror.
Bowser contends that his absence "cannot be deemed harmless error" because the outcome of his trial might have been different if he had been present. The actual standard where a federal constitutional error is at issue requires the court to find beyond any reasonable doubt that there is little, if any, likelihood that the error changed the outcome of the trial. State v. Knapp, 234 Kan. at 182.
In order to meet this standard, the State argues, it must be shown that juror Warrick's position changed as a result of her discussion with the judge. Bowser contends that Warrick's position did change as a consequence of the discussion. He contends that the communication had a "coercive effect and was the catalyst for the unanimous verdict later reached by the jury."
Bowser specifically objects to the judge's failure to "explain the option of a hung jury" to Warrick. He contends that Warrick held the "mistaken belief that a unanimous vote was required." If he or his counsel had been present, the argument seems to be, Warrick would have been advised that there are occasions when jurors fail to reach a unanimous decision.
In Knapp and Lovely, this court concluded that the communications outside defendant's presence were harmless. In Lovely, the "totality of the circumstances" was declared to weigh against *588 a finding of harm. The totality included defense counsel's expressly declining to request a mistrial. 237 Kan. at 845.
In Knapp, the overwhelming evidence of guilt seems to have been the basis for this court's conclusion that the communication did not tip the scale. 234 Kan. at 180-81. The present case is readily distinguishable. The Knapp juror gave no clue as to her view of the evidence. Her concern was that her brother had been questioned during investigation of the case. The court had no indication from the communication which way the juror was leaning, and "Knapp's counsel wanted her left on the jury as he felt she would be a good juror for the defense." 234 Kan. at 179. The court had no way to measure or even to infer whether the communication caused her to change her position. Thus, the court looked to the weight of the evidence to reach a conclusion as to the likelihood that the meeting caused a change.
This issue was recently addressed in Crease v. State, 252 Kan. 326, 845 P.2d 27 (1993). There, the issue was raised for the first time in a K.S.A. 60-1507 motion filed some 10 years after Crease's conviction. The ex parte communication between the judge and at least one juror occurred on the morning of the third day of deliberations. No record was made of the ex parte communication. The juror was concerned about finding Crease guilty of murder if he was not the one who pulled the trigger. The ex parte communication with the judge related to the application of the felony-murder and aiding and abetting instructions.
We held the ex parte communication violated Crease's constitutional right to be present at all critical stages of his trial. We then considered if the error was harmless, stating the standard of review as follows:
Applying that standard, we concluded the error was harmless:
In the present case, in contrast, it seems apparent that the judge's dialogue with juror Warrick changed the outcome of the trial. When Warrick spoke with the judge, she told him that she had made her decision and stated: "I know I've heard all the evidence and all that stuff, but it's just I'm not convinced." Then she told the judge that she wanted to be dismissed "because you say that everyone has to come up with the same decision." After she revealed to the judge that she was the holdout against the 11 other jurors, he mixed assurances that he was not asking her to change her mind with counsel to be open-minded and to listen to the other jurors' reasoning. Then he sent her back to the jury *590 room to resume deliberating. A reasonable inference is that she concluded that the judge wanted her to participate with the other jurors in reaching verdicts irrespective of her individual judgment, and the verdicts the following morning tend to confirm this supposition.
Further, the jury did not find the evidence against Bowser, particularly as to identification, to be overwhelming. The first trial resulted in not guilty verdicts on three counts and the jury being unable to reach a verdict on the remaining six counts. On retrial, juror Warrick, prior to her meeting with the judge, had decided that Bowser was not guilty.
In United States v. United States Gypsum Co., 438 U.S. 422, 57 L. Ed. 2d 854, 98 S. Ct. 2864 (1978), a criminal prosecution under the antitrust laws, the defendants raised the question of the propriety of a mid-deliberation ex parte meeting between the judge and the foreman of the jury. The Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals' reversal of the convictions on other grounds, but added that reversal would have been justified solely on the basis of the ex parte meeting. 438 U.S.  at 462. Although the reasoning of the Supreme Court did not depend on the defendants' right to be present, it is enlightening in the circumstances of the present case.
On the seventh day of deliberations, the federal district court judge received a request to meet with the jury foreman. He secured acquiescence of counsel to meet alone with the juror. During the meeting, the juror referred to the jury's deadlock and the judge indicated he would take that into consideration but he wanted the jury to continue deliberations:
"THE COURT: Oh, I am not after anything.
The following morning the jury returned guilty verdicts against the defendants.
*591 The Supreme Court stated:
In the present case, the ex parte communication between the judge and juror Warrick was error in that it violated the defendant's constitutional and statutory rights to be present at all critical stages of his trial.
The reasonable inference to be drawn from the record is that, as a result of the ex parte meeting, juror Warrick was influenced to change her position. We cannot declare beyond a reasonable doubt that the error had little, if any, likelihood of changing the verdict, and therefore we do not find the error to be harmless.
*592 In light of our finding, we need not address the second issue raised by the defendant.
Reversed and remanded for a new trial.