Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/385/363/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 04:43:20+00:00

Document:
Petitioner was convicted of second degree murder. At a hearing on his petition for post-conviction relief, the trial court found that a bailiff assigned to shepherd the sequestered jury had stated to a juror, "Oh, that wicked fellow, he is guilty," and to another juror, "If there is anything wrong [in finding him guilty], the Supreme Court will correct it." Both statements were overheard by at least one regular juror or an alternate. The trial court granted a new trial, but the Oregon Supreme Court reversed.
Held: The bailiff's statements violated the command of the Sixth Amendment, made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth, that the accused shall enjoy the right to a trial by an impartial jury and be confronted with the witnesses against him.
juror under similar circumstances, "If there is anything wrong [in finding petitioner guilty], the Supreme Court will correct it." [Footnote 2] Both statements were overheard by at least one regular juror or an alternate. The trial court found "that the unauthorized communication was prejudicial and that such conduct materially affected the rights of the [petitioner]." The Supreme Court of Oregon reversed, finding that "the bailiff's misconduct did not deprive [petitioner] of a constitutionally correct trial." 245 Ore. ___, 407 P.2d 246. We granted certiorari, 384 U.S. 904. The federal question decided by Oregon's highest court is, of course, subject to final determination in this Court, and we have concluded that the judgment must be reversed.
"the 'evidence developed' against a defendant shall come from the witness stand in a public courtroom where there is full judicial protection of the defendant's right of confrontation, of cross-examination, and of counsel."
that the rights of confrontation and cross-examination are among the fundamental requirements of a constitutionally fair trial. Kirby v. United States, 174 U. S. 47, 174 U. S. 55-56 (1899); In re Oliver, 333 U. S. 257, 333 U. S. 273 (1948); Pointer v. Texas, 380 U. S. 400 (1965).
Mrs. Inwards and Mrs. Drake, makes three. In any event, petitioner was entitled to be tried by 12, not 9 or even 10, impartial and unprejudiced jurors. See State v. Murray, 164 La. 883, 888, 114 So. 721, 723.
The statement was made to alternate juror Mrs. Gattman, and was overheard by juror Mrs. Inwards.
The statement was made to an unidentified juror and overheard by juror Mrs. Drake.
Mrs. Inwards when recalled to the stand testified in response to a question by the court that "all in all it must have influenced me. I didn't realize it at the time."
By not setting forth the background of this proceeding the Court has put seriously out of focus the constitutional issue involved in this case.
proceeding. The statements before this Court were found to have been made by this apparently Elizabethan-tongued bailiff, but, contrary to this Court's assertion, the trial court found that these statements were only prejudicial in nature, and not that they had a prejudicial effect. [Footnote 2/2] The Oregon Supreme Court did not find the trial proceedings fundamentally unfair.
hold that jury contact with outside information is always a cause for overthrowing a verdict, wisely preferring to allow "each case . . . [to] turn on its special facts." Marshall v. United States, 360 U. S. 310, 360 U. S. 312. The Court notes that these remarks were made by a state officer, but does not explain why the bailiff's official capacity would, in this instance, make him any more a "witness" than any other person able to communicate with the jury. Thus, though I believe unintentionally, the Court's opinion leaves open the possibility of automatically requiring a mistrial on constitutional grounds whenever any juror is exposed to any potentially prejudicial expression of opinion.
Considering this case, as I would, under the doctrine of fundamental fairness implicit in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, I think a different result follows. Much reliance has been placed upon Turner v. Louisiana, 379 U. S. 466. But, in Turner, we faced a situation in which the trial court allowed two deputy sheriffs who were key witnesses to be placed in "continuous and intimate association" with the jury, and it would have been "blinking reality not to recognize the extreme prejudice inherent in this" situation. 379 U.S. at 379 U. S. 473. There too we faced "a procedure employed by the State" involving "such a probability that prejudice will result" that we deemed it "inherently lacking in due process." Estes v. Texas, 381 U. S. 532, 542-543. Here, no procedure adopted by the State is to be faulted, and it seems clear to me that the rule of Stroble v. California, 343 U. S. 181, and Irvin v. Dowd, supra, should apply and a substantial showing of prejudice in fact must be made before a due process violation can be found.
emotional and "guilt-ridden" juror that she might have been influenced without realizing it. [Footnote 2/3] "[I]t is an impossible standard to require that tribunal [the jury] to be a laboratory, completely sterilized and freed from any external factors." Rideau v. Louisiana, 373 U. S. 723, 373 U. S. 733 (Clark, J., dissenting).
The potentialities of today's decision may go far beyond what, I am sure, the Court intends. Certainly the Court does not wish to encourage convicted felons to "intimidate, beset and harass," Stein v. New York, 346 U. S. 156, 346 U. S. 178, a discharged jury in an effort to establish possible grounds for a new trial. Our courts have always been alert to protect the sanctity of the jury process. McDonald v. Pless, 238 U. S. 264; see Castaldi v. United States, 251 F.Supp. 681. But, in allowing Parker to overturn his conviction on the basis of what are no more than inconsequential incidents in an otherwise constitutionally flawless proceeding, the Court encourages others to follow his example in pursuing the jury and may be thought by some to commit federal courts in habeas corpus proceedings to interrogate the jury upon the mere allegation that a prejudicial remark has reached the ears of one of its members. Remmer v. United States, 347 U. S. 227. To any such result, I cannot subscribe.
I think the Oregon Supreme Court correctly assessed the constitutional issue before us, and I would affirm its judgment.
The record shows that Mrs. Parker first called juror number one, Mrs. Inwards, and, upon finding her sympathetic, obtained from her the names of those who had held out longest. Mrs. Inwards also informed Mrs. Parker that an alternate juror, Mrs. Gattman, was sympathetic to Parker's cause.
"if the matters alleged in plaintiff's petition had been called to the Court's attention, the Court, on its own motion, would have granted the defendant a new trial,"
"difference in degree of the out-of-courtroom influence . . . so great as to lead us to the conclusion that the bailiff's misconduct did not deprive defendant of a constitutionally correct trial."
Mrs. Inwards, who on recall testified that she must have been unconsciously influenced, denied any influence when first examined. In her further testimony, she admitted that she was extremely upset by the verdict, and would do anything short of committing perjury to overturn it. She stated, however, that, although she had gone to the trial judge to discuss the verdict, she had never mentioned the bailiff's remarks to him. In specifying that the bailiff's remarks "must" have influenced her, she limited herself to declaring that they did so in connection with the pressure put on her by other jurors during the deliberations, thus stating that, "all in all," she "must" have been influenced.

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