Opinion ID: 1109659
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Evidence Viewed By Jury During Deliberations (Assignment of Error Number 11)

Text: In this assignment defendant complains that the trial judge erred by allowing the jury to review certain pieces of evidence during deliberations. The record reflects that the trial judge allowed the jury to review the following exhibits in the jury room: the autopsy report on each victim (S-4 and S-8), the crime lab report (S-3) and the municipal court documents pertaining to Earline Nunn's request for the issuance of a peace bond against the defendant (S-32). The documents pertaining to the municipal court proceeding included an affidavit by Earline Nunn in which she attested that the defendant had attempted to throw her off of a balcony during an incident that occurred in September, 1984. Relying on La.C.Cr.P. art. 793, defense counsel objected to the jury's being allowed to view this evidence in the jury room. Art. 793 provides in pertinent part that: A juror must rely upon his memory in reaching a verdict. He shall not be permitted to refer to notes or to have access to any written evidence.... Upon the request of a juror and in the discretion of the court, the jury may take with it or have sent to it any object or document received in evidence when a physical examination thereof is required to enable the jury to arrive at a verdict. The trial judge overruled defense counsel's objection and the jury was allowed to view these exhibits during its deliberations. The rule expressed by Art. 793 is that the jury is not to inspect written evidence except for the sole purpose of a physical examination of the document itself to determine an issue which does not require examination of the verbal contents of the document. (emphasis in opinion) State v. Perkins, 423 So.2d 1103, 1109-10 (La. 1982). A jury can examine a written statement to ascertain or compare a signature, or to see or feel it with regard to its actual existence, but not for the purpose of examining its verbal contents. Id. The rationale for the rule expressed by Art. 793 appears to be the concern that if jurors are allowed to review the contents of written exhibits during their deliberations, they will place undue weight on such exhibits and not decide the case with an even balance concerning all of the evidence, and their own recall thereof. [T]he Louisiana legislature has made the value-determination that, because of the presumed prejudice, documents received in evidence should be sent to the jury on its request only `when a physical examination thereof is required to enable the jury to arrive at a verdict.' State v. Freetime, 303 So.2d 487, 489 (La.1974) (emphasis in opinion). As we have noted in the past, Freetime, 303 So.2d at 489, most other jurisdictions allow jurors to take documents or papers, with the exception of depositions, into the jury room. See 4 Wharton's Criminal Procedure 555 (Torcia 1976); Annt., 37 ALR 3d 238. But the Legislature has not seen fit to change our state's rule, the violation of which has usually resulted in the reversal of the defendant's conviction. See, e.g. Perkins, supra (trial judge committed reversible error by allowing jury to view a copy of defendant's statement in the jury room); Freetime, supra (conviction reversed where trial judge allowed jury to review defendant's confession during deliberations). See also State v. Passman, 345 So.2d 874 (La.1977) (trial judge correctly refused jury's request to examine police radio log). In this case, there was no need for the jurors to make a physical examination of the exhibits in question in order to arrive at a verdict. The only way in which these exhibits could be of any assistance to the jurors during their deliberations is if they were examined for their verbal contents. Such an examination is prohibited by Art. 793. Therefore, the trial judge erred by allowing the jury to examine these documents in the jury room. This error may have been inconsequential with regard to the autopsy and crime lab reports, as those documents, although necessary to the prosecution's case, were not directly pertinent to the issue of this defendant's guilt or innocence. The court documents from the municipal court peace bond proceeding, however, contained an affidavit in which the victim asserted that defendant had attempted to seriously harm her shortly before the murder. Certainly this is the kind of written document which should not be examined for its verbal contents under the rule provided by Art. 793, a rule which presumes that the jury will give undue weight to any written exhibit which it examines for its verbal contents during deliberations. Because we have independently concluded that the prosecuter's reference to the defendant's failure to take the stand requires the reversal of both convictions, it is unnecessary for us to determine whether the violation of Art. 793, standing alone, warrants reversing defendant's convictions. On retrial, however, the jury should not be allowed to examine the verbal contents of written exhibits during deliberations.