Opinion ID: 792809
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: consideration of extra-record evidence

Text: 114 During the course of a televised interview shortly after the verdict was returned, jurors were asked what they thought about the testimony of Stewart's friend, Mariana Pasternak. Their responses give rise to Bacanovic's argument that the jury impermissibly considered matters outside the record in reaching the verdict as to him. 115 During direct examination by the Government, Pasternak testified that while vacationing with Stewart at the end of December 2001, she recall[ed] Martha saying that [Sam Waksal's] stock is going down, or went down, and I sold mine. When asked whether she recollected speaking with Stewart about brokers during the vacation, Pasternak replied, I remember one brief statement, which was: `Isn't it nice to have brokers who tell you those things.' Pasternak was then asked if she knew who Stewart's broker was and she replied I know that Peter Bacanovic was Martha's broker. The District Court instructed the jury that the testimony could be considered only in connection with the charges against Stewart. On cross-examination, Pasternak stated that she could not remember with certainty whether the statements she attributed to Stewart were actually made by Stewart or whether they were Pasternak's own thoughts. Bacanovic's motion for a mistrial was denied, and prior to cross-examination of Pasternak, the District Court instructed the jury as follows: 116 Testimony about what Martha Stewart told Ms. Pasternak is received in evidence only with respect to Martha Stewart. None of the statements of Martha Stewart to Ms. Pasternak that you heard yesterday afternoon are received in evidence against Peter Bacanovic, and it is not evidence against Peter Bacanovic. So that remember I told you at the beginning of the trial that guilt is personal, that you must separately consider each defendant and each charge. In considering the charges against Peter Bacanovic, you may not consider the testimony about those statements of Martha Stewart to Ms. Pasternak in any respect. They have no bearing as to Peter Bacanovic. 117 The jury received similar limiting instructions in the jury charge at the close of evidence. 118 Bacanovic now contends that certain public remarks by Hartridge and other jurors reveal that the jury did consider Pasternak's testimony in connection with the charges against him. In the interview, jurors were asked the following questions about the portion of Pasternak's testimony quoted above: What did you think when she said that? and But you found that pretty incriminating? Hartridge replied, Oh, very. Yeah. It took down two people with one shot because she mentioned Peter's name. `It's good to have a broker to tell you things.' Other jurors seemed to agree. Bacanovic asserts that these remarks indicate that his conviction was improperly influenced by extra-record prejudicial material, and that the District Court erred by denying his motion for a new trial and his request for an evidentiary hearing in holding, in part, that Hartridge's statement was inadmissible under Fed.R.Evid. 606(b). See United States v. Stewart, 317 F.Supp.2d 426, 431-32 (S.D.N.Y.2004). 119 Fed.R.Evid. 606(b) precludes a juror from testifying about deliberations and jurors' mental processes in the course thereof, but allows testimony regarding extraneous prejudicial information that came to the jury's attention. Bacanovic argues that the juror's statement regarding Pasternak's testimony falls within the exception to Rule 606(b) because (i) it was outside the record, as the record pertained to him and (ii) was highly prejudicial because it was the only evidence corroborating Faneuil's testimony that Bacanovic was involved with telling Stewart that Waksal was attempting to sell his stock. 120 According to Bacanovic, a ruling against him on this point would have the effect of barring, under Rule 606(b), testimony that the jury improperly considered evidence extraneous to one defendant in a multi-defendant trial, where Rule 606(b) would permit such testimony from a juror regarding the same extraneous evidence if the defendant was tried alone. We do not agree with that articulation of the issue. In fact, a ruling in Bacanovic's favor would enable an end-run around the well-settled proposition that jurors are presumed to follow instructions, see, e.g. United States v. Downing, 297 F.3d 52, 59 (2d Cir.2002), by permitting inquiry into a matter at the core of jury deliberations protected by Rule 606(b), see United States Football League v. Nat'l Football League, 842 F.2d 1335, 1371 n. 24 (2d Cir.1988) (rejecting, under Rule 606(b), claim that jurors were improperly influenced by information not in evidence despite district court's limiting instruction). 121 In so deciding, we agree with the Eighth Circuit's decision to reject an argument, similar to Bacanovic's, that Rule 606(b) did not prohibit the trial court from inquiring about jurors' alleged discussion of the defendant's failure to testify. See United States v. Rodriguez, 116 F.3d 1225 (8th Cir.1997). Like Bacanovic, the Rodriguez defendant argued that his failure to testify was not evidence and should not have been considered, it should be considered an `outside influence' about which the jurors should be allowed to testify. Id. at 1226-27. The Eighth Circuit responded, 122 That [defendant] did not testify is not a fact the jurors learned through outside contact, communication, or publicity. It did not enter the jury room through an external, prohibited route. It was part of the trial, and was part of the information each juror collected. It should not have been discussed by the jury, and indeed was the subject of a jury instruction to that effect. But it was not extraneous information, and therefore does not fall within the exception outlined in Rule 606(b). 123 Id. at 1227. We reach the same conclusion, for the same reasons. 124 Here, as in Rodriguez, the alleged impermissible influence was not the result of information the jurors learned through outside contact, communication, or publicity or that enter[ed] the jury room through an external, prohibited route. Id. Rather, Pasternak's testimony came `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.' Loliscio v. Goord, 263 F.3d 178, 185 (2d Cir.2001) (quoting Turner v. Louisiana, 379 U.S. 466, 472-73, 85 S.Ct. 546, 13 L.Ed.2d 424 (1965)). As such, the testimony cannot be considered extraneous information. 8 Accordingly, in considering whether Bacanovic's Sixth Amendment rights were implicated by an improperly influenced jury, the District Court did not abuse its discretion by refusing to order a new trial or an evidentiary hearing that was clearly proscribed by Rule 606(b). 125