Opinion ID: 2552546
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: ex parte communications with jurors

Text: During the trial, the trial judge disclosed to the parties that one of the jurors had reported to him that she and other jurors were concerned about the presence of two young black males in and about the courthouse who had been staring at the jurors. A juror informed the judge that she felt intimidated by the men. The judge, in response to the juror's concerns, invited the complaining juror and one other juror into his chambers to discuss the problem. Both jurors stated their concerns. After the judge recounted his communications with the jurors to the parties, the prosecutor requested that the judge assign a deputy sheriff to monitor the courthouse hallway. The defense attorney joined in that request. The defense attorney was concerned that the jurors might assume an association between the defendant and the two men. Because one of the men involved in the alleged intimidation was Jermaine Rayton, the defendant's younger brother and the sole defense witness, the defense attorney, rather than requesting a mistrial, suggested that the judge conduct a second inquiry of the jurors to record their comments and concerns. The defense counsel requested the judge to ask the jurors if their ability to decide the case based on the evidence had been compromised by the perceived attempts at intimidation. The State agreed. The judge then inquired of Byron Rayton if he waived his right to be present during the ex parte inquiry of the jurors. Rayton waived his right to be present. The court reporter was present when the judge in his chambers inquired into the two jurors' complaints and concerns. The jurors told the judge that two young black men had been loitering in the courthouse halls, staring at the jurors as they entered and exited the courtroom. The judge noted that one of the men described by the jurors resembled the defendant's brother who was also a defense witness. Then, for some unknown reason, the judge disregarded his agreement with defendant's trial counsel and asked the court reporter to go off the record. When the judge came back on the record, he stated: Well, what I am going to do is we will get the lawyers back in here and I will tell them the conversation; I have also told them if they want the court reporter to read it back I will have her do it and they can hear what you said. That's their choice. But I think pretty much that's pretty much the end of it; and I have told my administrative assistant to periodically check out there and, if these people are still hanging around, we are going to, you know, ask them to leave or get a place where they won't be, you know, in your pathway. The important part, though, is if this individual does turn out to be a witness that you can be fair and judge his testimony like you would anybody else. The jurors assured the judge that their ability to decide the case based on the evidence had not been compromised. The judge then assembled the defendant and the attorneys for the State and the defense and related his conversation with the jurors: And I am simply told that it wasit was simply the presence of these people and theyMs. Lowhorn said that one of them is out in the hall this morning, and she described Jermaine Rayton; but she also says that it simply doesn't rise to any sort of a problem whatsoever as far as she is concerned, and she will judge this witness' testimony in the same manner she would judge anybody else's testimony. He said nothing to her; and she justshe justShe feels that she may even have gotten the wrong impression, you know, about the whole thing, and so forth. The defense counsel moved for a mistrial, stating, I especially make that application because the lady described Jermaine Rayton and he is going to be our witness. The judge then instructed the court reporter to read the transcript of the hearing with the jurors. After hearing the court reporter's readback, defense counsel renewed his motion for a mistrial: Your Honor, if the Court please, on behalf of Mr. Rayton I am going to renew my motion for a mistrial. Let me tell you what the problem is: It is my view that regardless of what these jurors are saying, if you listen to how they answered Your Honor's questionsand you did a very good job of trying to put them at ease they are terrified, at least one of them is terrified, and especially since Jermaine Rayton is going to testify; we have real problems. And I think it's going to cause Mr. Raytonmy Mr. Rayton, my client Mr. Rayton to receive less than a fair trial. I am really bothered. I wish we would have had some alternates, it is no one's fault we don't have that. If we had alternate jurors I would ask, and I think everybody would put `em in the box right away and remove at least one of these jurors; we got problems. He is not going to receive a fair trial; they are not going to listen to what Mr. Rayton has to say, Jermaine Rayton, they find him intimidating, they find him to be a hulking presence, is the way I'm interpreting it. The judge denied the defense motion for a mistrial, stating that in his opinion the jurors would be able to decide the case based on the evidence. Regarding the off-the-record portion of the hearing, the judge stated, [T]he conversation off the record concerned general courthouse security and [the jurors] wondered why people weren't patrolling the halls and so forth; and I explained to them some of the reasons why and all that sort of thing. Not even dealing with ... this incident, they just expected to see people patrolling the halls. Defense counsel did not object to the revelation of the judge's off-record discussion to resolve the jurors' concerns. K.S.A. 1999 Supp. 22-3405, as well as the Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause, requires the defendant's presence at every critical stage of a trial, including a conference between a trial judge and a juror. Crease v. State, 252 Kan. 326, 333, 845 P.2d 27 (1993); State v. Lovely, 237 Kan. 838, 843-44, 703 P.2d 828 (1985). Further, K.S.A. 22-3420(3) requires that once the jury has begun deliberations, any questions from the jury concerning the law or evidence pertaining to the case must be answered in open court in the defendant's presence, unless the defendant is absent voluntarily. Crease, 252 Kan. at 333. The denial of a defendant's constitutional right to be present at all critical stages of the trial is subject to a constitutional analysis to determine if the error was harmless. Before an error of constitutional magnitude may be declared harmless, the appellate court must be able to decide beyond a reasonable doubt that the error had little, if any, likelihood of having changed the result of the trial. State v. McGinnes, 266 Kan. 121, Syl. ¶ 3, 967 P.2d 763 (1998). Kansas has adopted a four-factor test for analyzing the effect of ex parte communications with the jury: (1) the overall strength of the prosecution's case; (2) whether an objection was lodged; (3) whether the ex parte communication concerned a critical aspect of the trial or rather involved an innocuous and insignificant matter and the manner in which it was conveyed to the jury; and (4) the ability of a post-trial remedy to mitigate the constitutional error. 266 Kan. 121, Syl. ¶ 4.