Opinion ID: 2599941
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 29

Heading: Permitting Jurors to Think About the Case at Home

Text: At the end of the first day of jury deliberations, the foreperson asked the court if she could take the instructions home with her to read. The court told her she could as long as you don't communicate any thought you may develop concerning that with anyone else while you are separated. Similarly, when excusing the jury for the day, the court admonished the jurors that they could continue to think about the case, but they could not communicate their thoughts to anyone until they were back together for deliberations. Defendant contends that permitting the foreperson to read instructions at home and permitting all the jurors to think about the case after they separated violated California statutory law as well as defendant's right to a jury trial under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the federal Constitution and article I, sections 5, 15, and 16 of the California Constitution. We note, first, that the issue has been forfeited because counsel failed to object in a timely manner. Defense counsel did not object when the foreperson was told she could take the instructions home, but moved for a mistrial the following morning on the ground that jurors may not be permitted to deliberate while separated. The court denied the motion, explaining that the foreperson is required to guide the jurors through their deliberations and that it would assist them if she were aware of the context of the instructions they would cover during their deliberations. The court also noted that defense counsel could have asked to speak to the court outside the presence of the jury if he wished to object. At the end of the third day of deliberations, the foreperson again asked to take the instructions home. The court asked all counsel whether they had any objections, and none did. The court again cautioned the foreperson not to discuss the instructions with anyone and admonished her not to look up any words she did not understand. Even had the issue not been forfeited, we would find no error. Defendant equates thinking about the case with jury deliberations. Jurors must be admonished not to form an opinion concerning the case or to discuss it with anyone before it is submitted to them. (§ 1122.) Once the case has been submitted to the jurors for decision, they may not deliberate except when all are together. (§ 1128.) Although the deliberation process of course includes thinking, defendant has failed to cite any authority suggesting that jurors must be directed not to think about the case except during deliberations. A juror participates in the deliberative process by participat[ing] in discussions with fellow jurors by listening to their views and by expressing his or her own views. ( People v. Cleveland (2001) 25 Cal.4th 466, 485, 106 Cal.Rptr.2d 313, 21 P.3d 1225.) Indeed, it would be entirely unrealistic to expect jurors not to think about the case during the trial and when at home. (See U.S. v. Steele (9th Cir.2002) 298 F.3d 906, 911 [noting that jurors who reached a verdict on Monday morning may have come to a resolution during a weekend when they individually pondered the evidence].) [26] Defendant also contends the trial court made comments that elevated the status of the foreperson, thereby improperly increasing her influence over the other jurors. On the third day of deliberations, the court told the jurors that they must not remove anything from the jury room, including the instructions. The court noted that the foreperson had been allowed to take the instructions home, but that is because of her status as foreperson . . . the foreperson has a need to be perhaps better informed than anyone else as to where those instructions are located within that packet. No objection was made at trial to the court's explanation, and in any event we find no error. Contrary to defendant's contention, the court's comments did not convey a message that the opinion of the foreperson was more important than that of any other juror. The court merely explained that the foreperson should be in a position to assist deliberations by locating particular instructions within the large packet the jurors had been given.