Opinion ID: 2581323
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Extraneous Prejudicial Information

Text: {18} The competency of a juror as a witness is specifically governed by our Rules of Evidence. Upon an inquiry into the validity of a verdict..., a juror may not testify as to any matter or statement occurring during the course of the jury's deliberations or to the effect of anything upon that or any other juror's mind or emotions as influencing the juror to assent to or dissent from the verdict ... or concerning the juror's mental processes in connection therewith, except that a juror may 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. Rule 11-606(B) NMRA 2001. Thus, a juror may testify on the very limited circumstance of whether extraneous prejudicial information was improperly before the jury. Otherwise, the rule prohibits a juror from testifying as to any matter or statement made during the course of deliberations or to the juror's mental processes. {19} The party requesting a new trial on the basis that the jury was exposed to extraneous information must make a preliminary showing that [he or she] has competent evidence that material extraneous to the trial actually reached the jury. State v. Sena, 105 N.M. 686, 688, 736 P.2d 491, 493 (1987) (quoting State v. Doe, 101 N.M. 363, 366, 683 P.2d 45, 48 (Ct.App.1983)). Thus, Defendant has the burden to show that the extraneous information actually reached the jury. This burden is not discharged merely by allegation; rather, Defendant must make an affirmative showing that some extraneous influence came to bear on the jury's deliberations. Mann, 2000-NMCA-088, ¶ 85, 129 N.M. 600, 11 P.3d 564. Rule 11 606(B) tracks the language of the comparable federal rule. See Doe, 101 N.M. at 365, 683 P.2d at 47. Unauthorized communications to the jury in state courts must be judged by the federal requirements of due process. [1] State v. Gutierrez, 78 N.M. 529, 531, 433 P.2d 508, 510 (Ct.App.1967). {20} Although several prior New Mexico cases, as well as some cases from other jurisdictions, do not distinguish jury tampering, juror misconduct, and juror bias, we believe it would provide clarification to do so. While there is bound to be overlap between these categories, we find the distinctions useful to place the issue in the present case into proper context. See generally Webster, 750 F.2d at 338 ([W]e have distinguished between jury panels tainted by outside influence, such as publicity or direct appeals from third parties, and panels on which one or more of the jurors themselves have violated an instruction of the court.). The essence of cases involving juror tampering, misconduct, or bias is whether the circumstance unfairly affected the jury's deliberative process and resulted in an unfair jury. See United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 739, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993) (discussing the claim of prejudice when the trial court allowed alternates to sit in on deliberations, but instructed them not to participate, concluding, [t]here may be cases where an intrusion should be presumed prejudicial, but a presumption of prejudice as opposed to a specific analysis does not change the ultimate inquiry: Did the intrusion affect the jury's deliberations and thereby its verdict? (citations omitted)). {21} Jury tampering generally refers to private communications between third persons and jurors. The United States Supreme Court has held that private communication, contact, or direct or indirect tampering with a juror during a trial about the matter pending before it, if not made in pursuance of known rules of the court and the instructions and directions of the court made during the trial, with full knowledge of the parties may result in a due process violation. Remmer v. United States, 347 U.S. 227, 229, 74 S.Ct. 450, 98 L.Ed. 654 (1954); see also Mattox v. United States, 146 U.S. 140, 150, 13 S.Ct. 50, 36 L.Ed. 917 (1892) (Private communications, possibly prejudicial, between jurors and third persons, or witnesses, or the officer in charge, are absolutely forbidden, and invalidate the verdict, at least unless their harmlessness is made to appear.). In Mattox, the bailiff remarked to the jury that the defendant had a prior murder charge. 146 U.S. at 142, 13 S.Ct. 50. In Remmer, an unnamed individual remarked to a juror that he could profit from a particular verdict, and the judge, ex parte, requested an investigation. In Gutierrez, the Court of Appeals addressed the issue of jury tampering when an individual approached a juror and told her `to make a wise decision,' and relied upon Remmer. 78 N.M. at 530-31, 433 P.2d at 509-10. The Court of Appeals relied upon Gutierrez in another jury tampering case in which an informant told a juror about a witness who had identified [the respondent] in court only after an initial hesitation. Doe, 101 N.M. at 365-66, 683 P.2d at 47-48. {22} Juror misconduct, on the other hand, includes activity by members of the jury which is inconsistent with the instructions by the court. See Sena, 105 N.M. at 688, 736 P.2d at 493 (rejecting the defendant's argument that the defendant's sister saw a juror sleeping during the trial and a juror's remark that he knew the defendant was guilty but not based on evidence presented at trial constituted juror misconduct and supported the defendant's claim that extraneous material reached the jury). Juror misconduct would also include members of the jury making an unauthorized visit to the scene of the crime, or referring to material, such as a dictionary, not in evidence and against the instructions of the trial court. See, e.g., State v. Melton, 102 N.M. 120, 122-24, 692 P.2d 45, 47-49 (Ct.App.1984) (concluding that, where the judge instructed the jury that it was not allowed to have a dictionary and a juror later copied a dictionary definition and showed it to the jury, an improper communication occurred but that the presumption of prejudice was rebutted); United States v. Harber, 53 F.3d 236, 241 (9th Cir.1995) (concluding that, when a copy of the case agent's report, not admitted into evidence, was in the jury room during deliberations, it resulted in inherent prejudice where it was read and relied upon by the jury). {23} In State v. Sacoman, 107 N.M. 588, 762 P.2d 250 (1988), this Court addressed whether juror remarks constituted extraneous information that prejudiced the defendant. In Sacoman, the defendant's work as a busboy was relevant to his alibi; he claimed that he had not punched his time card but had been paid as if he had finished work at the end of his shift. Id. at 589, 762 P.2d at 251. One juror described his own personal experience as a busboy, relating that on many occasions when he wanted to take off work early he would work extra hard... then leave without punching out. Id. at 590, 762 P.2d at 252. Another juror fabricated a story about employment procedures, claiming that a payroll clerk told the juror that if an employee did not clock out, the clerk assumed that the employee worked the full time. Id. The Sacoman Court summarily concluded that [t]he defendant's authorities convince us that he is correct in asserting that the juror communications at issue in this case constituted extraneous information. Id. at 591, 762 P.2d at 253. {24} The Court, in Sacoman, expressed a rather broad introductory statement: [c]ommunication of specific knowledge from a particular juror to others involves extraneous information. Id. at 590, 762 P.2d at 252. Defendant relies upon this statement as this Court's definition of extraneous information. As discussed further below, this would be a sweeping and far-reaching rule if actually applied. We do not believe this to be a particularly helpful test in extraneous information cases. Further, a careful review of the authority on which Sacoman based its determination leads us to the conclusion that this aspect of the case was questionable. Sacoman's out-of-state authority in which jurors had specific knowledge of extrajudicial facts directly related to the litigation before them was inapplicable to the facts in Sacoman and is inapplicable in the present case. See State v. Wisham, 384 So.2d 385, 387 (La.1980) (concluding that the defendant's right to an impartial jury was violated when jurors saw the defendant's alibi witness arrested for perjury); People v. Huntley, 87 A.D.2d 488, 452 N.Y.S.2d 952, 955-56 (1982) (juror falsely claimed to have visited the scene of the crime and corroborated the state's version of events); State v. Lorenzy, 59 Wash. 308, 109 P. 1064, 1065-67 (1910) (remanding for a new trial when defendant was convicted of conniving at the prostitution of his wife and juror was familiar with a hotel directly at issue in the case as a house of prostitution). Of particular note, Sacoman relied heavily on State v. Thacker, 95 Nev. 500, 596 P.2d 508, 509 (1979) (per curiam), a larceny case involving two calves, and characterized a juror as the foreman of a cattle ranch ... who made estimates regarding the weight of the cattle that contradicted the theory of defense. Sacoman, 107 N.M. at 591, 762 P.2d at 253. However, the Sacoman Court failed to recognize that, in Thacker, the juror's ranch was the same ranch where the calves at issue were located. Thacker, 596 P.2d at 509. Unlike those cases, the jurors in Sacoman and the present case did not have knowledge of extraneous facts directly related to the specific case. The Sacoman juror with busboy experience did not inform the jury as to procedures used at the defendant's place of employment; he simply related his own work experiences in that particular field. Id. at 590, 762 P.2d at 252. Similarly, the juror who related a false story concocted a description of a different workplace, not the defendant's. Id. {25} Sacoman also relied on cases which involve juror bias, State v. Larue, 68 Haw. 575, 722 P.2d 1039 (1986) and Rogers v. State, 551 S.W.2d 369 (Tex.Crim.App.1977), in which jurors related personal experiences similar to the victims in the respective cases. Although juror bias may involve juror misconduct, we consider these cases to be clearly distinguishable from Sacoman and the present case as well. Larue involved a juror who related to the jury an experience similar to the victims in the case before her, of sexual abuse at a young age, to support the victims' ability to recall the event despite their age. Larue, 722 P.2d at 1040-42. The Supreme Court of Hawaii based its conclusion that this constituted extraneous prejudicial information on the fact that the juror should have been excluded for cause during voir dire. Id. at 1042; see State v. Furutani, 76 Hawai`i 172, 873 P.2d 51, 61 (1994) (Explicit in our ruling in Larue was a recognition that the foreperson's childhood experience constituted `important biographical information relevant to a challenge for cause.' (quoted authority omitted)). In other words, Larue addressed juror bias. If a juror is biased, then the defendant, by definition, suffers prejudice. One juror's bias, even if it does not influence other jurors, jeopardizes the defendant's right to an impartial jury. See United States v. Humphrey, 208 F.3d 1190, 1199-1200 (10th Cir.2000) (concluding that a juror's statement that the juror knew of the defendant's reputation in the community as a drug dealer constituted extraneous material; noting that the statement raised questions regarding the truthfulness of the juror during voir dire and of bias against the defendant). {26} The relationship between voir dire and juror bias demonstrates the distinctions between the juror's actions in Larue and the present case. During voir dire, the parties and the court in Larue questioned venire members regarding sexual abuse. Larue, 722 P.2d at 1041-42. The juror in question did not disclose that she had been sexually assaulted at age three. Id. The juror did not necessarily commit misconduct because she apparently did not attempt to deceive the parties during voir dire, but instead simply failed to understand the significance of the events in her past to the case before her. Id. Had she properly disclosed her history, the defendant could have successfully challenged her for cause. Id. at 1042. In other words, it is more generally accepted that a juror who has experienced a traumatic event similar to a victim in a criminal case is likely to be unable to be fair and impartial in deciding the defendant's guilt. Sacoman does not discuss whether the juror's experience as a busboy was a fact disclosed during voir dire. Had the defendant raised this issue, it most likely would not have resulted in an excusal for cause because a juror's work experience in this context, although similar to an issue at trial, is not considered to affect the ability of that juror to be fair and unbiased. See generally State v. Sanchez, 120 N.M. 247, 251-53, 901 P.2d 178, 182-84 (1995) (discussing a claim of juror bias and determining that, absent exceptional circumstances justifying a finding of implied bias, a defendant must demonstrate actual bias). In the present case, this reasoning is even more clear. The fact that Juror 7 had the educational and professional ability to understand and perform calculations such as those conducted by Defendant's expert would clearly not provide a basis for Juror 7's excusal for cause. {27} We emphasize that the underlying issue in cases involving extraneous information is a defendant's right to a fair and impartial jury. Jury tampering and juror bias present the clearest examples of potentially improper influences upon a jury, while the notion of juror misconduct creates a more difficult extension of the issue. See United States v. Dutkel, 192 F.3d 893, 894-96 (9th Cir.1999) (Jury tampering is a much more serious intrusion into the jury's processes [than juror misconduct] and poses an inherently greater risk to the integrity of the verdict.). Although some forms of misconduct, such as a juror making an unauthorized visit to the scene of a crime, may infringe on a defendant's right to a fair jury, we are cautious and reluctant to apply this reasoning to actions approaching juror deliberations. Sacoman appears to have imprudently extended the reasoning of jury tampering or bias cases to a situation in which a juror drew on his past experiences in order to deliberate on the case before him. [2] Although Juror 7's conduct arguably could be labeled juror misconduct if we applied the broad introductory statement of Sacoman that communication of specific knowledge from one juror to the jury involves extraneous information, we take this opportunity to clarify that jurors may properly rely on their background, including professional and educational experience, in order to inform their deliberations. See Nichols v. Busse, 243 Neb. 811, 503 N.W.2d 173, 186 (1993) ([W]e feel that the proper approach is to prohibit the use of juror affidavits which seek to impeach verdicts due to a juror's intradeliberational statements based on his or her personal knowledge, when that knowledge is not directly related to the litigation at issue.). Jurors are generally knowledgeable in many areas, and they are entitled to use their common or acquired sense in arriving at a verdict, so long as the knowledge is not imparted to them outside the judicial proceeding in which they sit as jurors. The use of their extrinsic knowledge in the deliberative process does not fall into the category of extrinsic influence. State v. Anderson, 748 S.W.2d 201, 205 (Tenn.Crim.App.1985), overruled on other grounds by State v. Shelton, 851 S.W.2d 134 (Tenn.1993). We believe this holding is more consistent with the policy articulated in Rule 11-606(B) that a juror may not testify concerning his or her mental processes or the effect of anything upon that or any other juror's mind or emotions as influencing the juror to assent to or dissent from the verdict. Rather, a juror may only testify on the question whether extraneous prejudicial information was improperly brought to the jury's attention. Rule 11-606(B).