Opinion ID: 1697230
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: whether there was juror misconduct in both the guilt and sentencing phases.

Text: ¶ 19. Smith presents four claims of juror misconduct which we consider separately.
¶ 20. Smith claims that the jury may have been influenced by evidence of another crime which was not properly before the jury. Carolyn Pearce testified at the trial that Jerome and Smith were in a red and white car shortly after the robbery, that they assaulted her with a pistol and a knife, and that they had a large amount of loose cash with them, and talked about buying more cocaine. She had also claimed that Jerome and Smith had raped her in the assault, but the rape testimony was not presented to the jury. Smith claims that the jury inappropriately considered the rape claim, but he cites no authority to support this claim. He has submitted an affidavit from juror Carolyn Mack, in which she mentions that during deliberations, [i]t was stated by other jurors that Jerome Pete Smith had also committed rape in the past. The juror does not claim that the rape allegation influenced the jury's decision in any way. And, more specifically, she does not claim that the jury was prejudiced against Smith by the allegation that his brother, Jerome, had possibly committed a rape. ¶ 21. Smith also presents an affidavit from a social work intern who claims that another juror, Mary Ann Stanton, had stated during an interview that at the time of her [Stanton's] deliberations as a juror in the trial and sentencing of Clyde Wendell Smith and his brother and co-defendant, Jerome Pete Smith, that they had raped a woman, and she considered this fact in her decision. As discussed previously, this is not a juror's affidavit. It is a social work intern's account of statements supposedly made by the juror. This is not a proper affidavit, and the Court will not consider it in the post-conviction proceedings. Miss.Code Ann. § 99-39-9(1)(e) allows the petitioner to present affidavits from witnesses who would testify at trial, not hearsay statements allegedly made by a juror to a third party. ¶ 22. Generally, a juror is not allowed to impeach his own verdict by testifying about motives or influences that affected the deliberations, although jurors may testify about misconduct in their presence or about outside influences on the jury panel. Lewis v. State, 725 So.2d 183, 190 (Miss.1998), citing Fairman v. State, 513 So.2d 910, 915-16 (Miss.1987). See also M.R.E. 606(b) (juror can only testify on the question whether extraneous prejudicial information was improperly brought to the jury's attention or whether any outside influence was improperly brought to bear upon any juror). ¶ 23. In Lewis, this Court held that there must be more than the mere allegation of improper out of court evidence, stating that there must be sufficient proof of an alleged outside influence. Lewis, 725 So.2d at 190 (citing King v. State, 580 So.2d 1182, 1187 (Miss.1991); Williamson v. State, 512 So.2d 868, 882 (Miss.1987); Carter v. State, 493 So.2d 327, 329 (Miss.1986)). Further, the Court in Lewis held that the mere possibility that [an improper] influence might have been used ... is not sufficient to justify setting aside this conviction. Id. ¶ 24. Smith has failed to show any prejudicial jury misconduct here. The only valid affidavit states merely that some jurors had heard that Jerome Pete Smith, not Clyde Wendell Smith, had committed a rape in the past. There is no allegation that the jurors came to their decision based on a rape allegation against Jerome Smith.
¶ 25. Smith submits three affidavits from jurors who state that they were concerned during the penalty deliberations that if they sentenced the defendants to life that they would get out on parole. He also submits a statement from the social work intern whose recitation of a fourth juror's statement as to parole eligibility is similar to that of the other three jurors. ¶ 26. Smith cites Williams v. State, 445 So.2d 798, 813 (Miss.1984) where this Court stated that [r]eference to the possibility of parole should the defendant not be sentenced to die are wholly out of place at the sentencing phase of a capital murder trial. In Williams, the Court found reversible error in the prosecutor's repeated questioning of a defense expert about the expert's understanding that a life sentence usually meant thirty years in prison. The Court in Williams found that the discussion of parole was improper but found that the error was reversible only in that the trial court also erred in several other respects (discussion of the defendant's right not to testify and discussion of the defendant's right to appeal at different levels). In sum, the parole consideration error was only reversible in conjunction with the other errors in the Williams case. ¶ 27. Smith, however, argues that Williams requires relief for him. The Court in Williams did state that parole consideration at a death penalty trial was improper. However, the Court has declined to extend the prohibition about parole considerations beyond the prosecutor's closing arguments, the jury instructions, or witness testimony. In Wilcher v. State, 697 So.2d 1087 (Miss.1997), a question about parole eligibility arose during voir dire when a potential juror asked if life meant life with or without parole. This Court found no reversible error there. See also Wiley v. State, 691 So.2d 959 (Miss.1997) (Supreme Court distinguished holding in Williams and found that jury was properly instructed and that there was no error in the discussion of parole during voir dire). ¶ 28. The present allegation is not that the jury was improperly instructed about parole eligibility or that the court or a witness or an attorney made any improper statement about parole during the trial. The claim is that the jurors, while in the jury room, on their own, considered whether the Smiths would be eligible for parole. Apparently the jurors did, in fact, consider parole possibilities. During its deliberations, the jury sent out a note which is not part of the record. The judge described the question as: the jury sent a note to me to this effect, that they were aware of the fact that Clyde Smith had four life  was serving life without parole and their question was whether Jerome Smith would be eligible for parole ... The Court answered it in these words `Jerome Smith would be eligible to be considered for parole'. ¶ 29. This Court has not heretofore determined that a jury could not, on its own, decide that the severity of a crime required the finality of the death penalty. The Mississippi legislature did not amend Miss.Code Ann. § 97-3-21 to allow a jury in a capital murder case to return a verdict of life without parole until 1994, and then only as to any case in which pre-trial, trial or re-sentencing proceedings take place after July 1, 1994. Prior to that date, at all times pertinent to Smith's crime (1992), trial and sentencing (1993), the only options were life imprisonment or death. Because it would be natural for the jury to consider the possible ramifications of a life sentence verdict, this case is distinguishable from Williams, which dealt with explicit discussion of parole during the penalty phase of the trial. That simply didn't happen here. The only allegation of impropriety is that the jurors, during their deliberations, discussed whether the Smiths might eventually be paroled if they were sentenced to life. In Wilcher and Wiley, the Court found that factually and legally correct statements as to parole eligibility during voir dire were not error. In the present case, we hold that the jurors were not prohibited from discussing among themselves whether parole was a possibility, since they were instructed correctly. There is no error here. ¶ 30. Additionally, during closing argument, Smith's attorney informed the jury that Smith was already serving a life sentence without parole. The attorney stated: This man, Clyde, Sunday, the day before this trial started was serving four life sentences without parole, and I can tell you regardless of what you heard on T.V. about how people serve a year and a half for raping somebody on the average, or whatever statistics they come up with, I can tell you and the law will tell you and this Court will tell you, he will never see the outside of a prison cell until he dies in prison. Now that's before we got here. That's the case and it's still the case, and a sentence of life from you won't affect it. It won't lessen it, it won't override it, it won't take the place of it. Those sentences are there and he will serve that time and he never will get out. There's the difference between these two people right there. He also argued at some length that life in prison without parole was the harsher punishment. It is clear that the defense chose to inform the jury about Smith's life sentences without parole. The jury knew that if Smith was sentenced to life he would never be paroled. Thus little stock should be put in the current affidavits that say that the jurors were concerned that Smith would be paroled one day. This sub-issue is without merit.
¶ 31. The allegation here is that the jury lumped the two defendants together and decided jointly that both were guilty and that both should be sentenced to die. [2] This issue is similar to that raised in Issue XV, infra, where the allegation is made that the attorneys were ineffective in failing to object to the lack of individualized verdicts. ¶ 32. Smith again submits affidavits from three jurors who stated generally that they decided the guilty verdict and sentencing verdict of both defendants with no individual consideration as to each defendant. Smith cites McKoy v. North Carolina, 494 U.S. 433, 110 S.Ct. 1227, 108 L.Ed.2d 369 (1990) (North Carolina's death penalty scheme unconstitutional because it required the jury to find an absence of the mitigating factors unanimously); Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280, 96 S.Ct. 2978, 49 L.Ed.2d 944 (1976) (North Carolina statute, which made a death sentence mandatory in the event that a defendant was convicted of capital murder, found unconstitutional); and Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 49 L.Ed.2d 859 (1976) (Georgia's death penalty framework, with consideration of aggravating and mitigating factors, was not unconstitutional). However, Smith provides no pinpoint cites and it does not appear that those opinions support his case, since none of those cases dealt with multiple defendants or the possibility that the jury could have failed to give independent consideration to each defendant's guilt and punishment. ¶ 33. Regardless, this issue is without merit. As noted in the discussion of Issue XV, this issue was raised on direct appeal and is therefore barred. The jury was properly instructed that it had to consider each defendant's guilt separately. Jurors are presumed to follow instructions. Puckett v. State, 737 So.2d 322, 347 (Miss.1999). The jury returned individualized verdicts which read separately as to Clyde Wendell Smith and as to Jerome Pete Smith. Additionally, as discussed above, they sent out a note asking a question about each defendant's parole eligibility. That question indicates that they considered each defendant separately. There is no merit in the allegation that the jury failed to consider Clyde Smith's conviction and sentence separately from his brother's.
¶ 34. Here, Smith submits affidavits from two jurors and the statement of a social work intern, all of which claim that the jury said a prayer after deciding its sentencing verdict but before the verdict was read in court. Smith claims that the jurors improperly sought religious guidance during their deliberations, but the affidavits and statement all say that the prayer was held after the deliberations were complete. Smith fails to show how the jury could have been improperly influenced, when the deliberations were over and the jurors had agreed on the death penalty for Smith and his brother. ¶ 35. Smith cites no Mississippi cases regarding the issue of prayer by the jurors. However, defense attorneys in capital cases often invoke the scriptures and quote Biblical references, and this Court has held that such references in closing arguments are not prohibited to either side. Carr v. State, 655 So.2d 824, 853 (Miss.1995). See also Berry v. State, 703 So.2d 269, 281 (Miss.1997). The jurors are not required to strip away any moral or theological beliefs when they enter the jury room. They are entitled to rely on all of their experiences so long as they follow the law. There is no error here.