Opinion ID: 1907022
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Purpose of the Intoxilyzer

Text: [¶ 17] A second juror questioned her husband at some time during the trial about the purposes of an intoxilyzer test. Her husband, a former law enforcement officer, was then employed as a financial screener for the Superior Court. He told her that the test could confirm the officer's suspicion of Coburn's intoxication and could provide the defendant with the opportunity to show her innocence. [¶ 18] The only argument offered by the State to rebut the presumption of prejudice from this information was the assertion that this was not a test case  it was a refusal case. Therefore, according to the State, the information was only tangentially relevant and could cause no prejudice. The trial court agreed. Again, we look for competent evidence to support the court's conclusion and will overturn the denial of the motion for new trial only if there is clear error. [¶ 19] We find error for two reasons. First, the very fact that a juror in a criminal proceeding has discussed the evidence at trial with a former member of law enforcement gives rise to concerns about the juror's ability to remain impartial. Second, the husband's response indicated that the defendant had the opportunity and, by implication, the burden of proving that she was not guilty of the crime with which she had been charged. We regard the risk that this implication was accepted by the juror as significant. Having scrutinized the record for any evidence offered by the State that would show that the jury's verdict was not, in fact, tainted by this prejudice, we find none. Again, the court did not learn of the juror's conversation with her husband in time to provide a curative instruction regarding the State's burden or addressing the acceptable use to which evidence of the refusal could be put. [¶ 20] Because the court may not inquire into the substance of the jury's deliberations, we recognize that direct evidence that the jury's verdict was not tainted by the extraneous information is almost impossible to produce. [8] Therefore, in making its case that the jury's verdict was not influenced by the extraneous information, the State will usually be limited to circumstantial evidence and arguments based on inductive reasoning. This task was designed to be difficult, and in this case, we can reach no other conclusion but that the State failed to satisfy its burden. Accordingly, we vacate the judgment of the trial court denying Coburn's motion for a new trial. The entry is Judgment vacated. Remanded to the Superior Court with instructions to grant the defendant's motion for a new trial.