Opinion ID: 771747
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Evaluating the State Court's Decision In Light of Williams

Text: 28 The Ohio Court of Appeals was the last court in Ohio to address the merits of Doan's appeal. In his brief to the Ohio Court of Appeals, Doan argued that the juror's misconduct in conducting an experiment in her own home, the results of which she told to other members of the jury, violated his Sixth Amendment right under the United States Constitution to have a fair trial before an impartial jury inwhich the jury's verdict is based solely upon the evidence presented at trial. See Appellant's Br. to Ohio Ct. App. at 7, 11. The Ohio Court of Appeals did not address this argument in its opinion, however. Instead, it based its decision entirely on Ohio Evid. R. 606(B), 4 which states that in order for a juror to testify as to an extraneous influence that was brought to the jury's attention during the trial or deliberations, there must be some independent evidence from a source with firsthand knowledge other than the jurors themselves. See State v. Schiebel, 564 N.E.2d. 54, 61 (Ohio 1990), cert. denied, 499 U.S. 961 (1991). The Ohio Court of Appeals noted that, because there was no outside evidence of juror misconduct that stemmed from evidence provided by anyone other than the jurors themselves, Ohio Evid. R. 606(B) rendered Juror A's affidavit acknowledging her experimentation inadmissible. The state court of appeals, because it found the Ohio evidence rule to be controlling, apparently did not deem it necessary to address Doan's federal constitutional argument that such juror experimentation effectively denies his rights under the Sixth Amendment. 29 Ohio's Rule 606(B) codifies the aliunde rule, a rule dating back to the day of Lord Mansfield, which states that the verdict of a jury may not be impeached by the evidence of a member of the jury unless foundation for the introduction of such evidence is first laid by competent evidence ... from some other source. State v. Adams, 48 N.E.2d 861, 863 (Ohio 1943). This rule is designed to protect the finality of verdicts and to ensure that jurors are insulated from harassment by defeated parties. Schiebel, 564 N.E.2d at 61. While Federal Rule of Evidence 606(b) closely parallels the Ohio rule in most respects, it does not codify the aliunde rule. Instead, Federal Rule 606(b) allows a juror to testify about any extraneous prejudicial information [that] was improperly brought to the jury's attention[.] This is quite different from the aliunde rule, which allows consideration only of extraneous prejudicial information that can be verified by some source outside the jury. The Ohio Court of Appeals noted explicitly in its opinion that if Federal Rule 606(b) had applied to Doan's trial, the evidence of juror misconduct would likely have been admissible. Doan, 1995 WL 577524, at  (Ohio's rule is different, requiring a different result in the present case.). 30 Because the Ohio Court of Appeals did not even identify in its opinion that Doan had a federal constitutional right to a fair and impartial jury that considers in its deliberations only the evidence presented against him at trial, the unreasonable application prong of §2254(d)(1) does not govern our analysis. The Ohio Court of Appeals did not, as the Supreme Court defined an unreasonable application, correctly identify the governing legal principle only to unreasonably apply that principle to the particular facts of the case at hand. See Williams, 120 S. Ct. at 1520. On the contrary, the Ohio Court of Appeals completely failed to identify Doan'sSixth Amendment rights in its analysis, implicitly holding that Ohio Evid. R. 606(B) trumps the constitutional arguments that the defendant raised. 31 The question, then, is whether the Ohio Court of Appeals's decision applying Ohio's Rule 606(B) in spite of Doan's Sixth Amendment claim is contrary to clearly established Supreme Court precedent as of the time of its decision. We hold that it is. 32 As stated earlier, the Supreme Court in Williams further defined what it means for a state court decision to be contrary to clearly established Supreme Court precedent. The Williams Court noted that contrary is defined as diametrically different, opposite in character or nature, or mutually opposed. Williams, 120 S. Ct. at 1519 (internal quotation marks omitted). Thus, a state court decision will be contrary to clearly established Supreme Court precedent only if it applies a rule that contradicts the governing law set forth in [Supreme Court] cases[,] or if it confronts a set of facts that are materially indistinguishable from a [Supreme Court decision] and nevertheless arrives at a result different from [Supreme Court] precedent. Id. 33 Doan argues that, because Ohio Evid. R. 606(B) prevents the consideration of clear evidence of jury misconduct in this case, the rule's application violated his federal constitutional right to a fair trial. The Supreme Court has recognized the right to a fair trial as arising out of both the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments 5 . See Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 818 (1975); Chambers v. Mississippi, 410 U.S. 284, 294 (1973). In explaining what is encompassed in the right to a fair trial, the Court has held that it adheres to the 'undeviating rule' that the rights of confrontation and cross-examination are among the fundamental requirements of a constitutionally fair trial. Parker v. Gladden, 385 U.S. 363, 364-65 (1966) (citation omitted). The Court has further held that: 34 In the constitutional sense, trial by jury in a criminal case necessarily implies at the very least that the evidence developed against a defendant shall come 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. 35 Turner v. Louisiana, 379 U.S. 466, 472-73 (1965) (quotation omitted). 36 In Parker, the Supreme Court held that prejudicial comments to a jury by a bailiff during deliberations violated the defendant's Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The bailiff, who was assigned to a sequestered jury, stated to one of the jurors in the presence of others that the defendant was a wicked man, that he was guilty, and that if there was an error in finding the defendant guilty, the Supreme Court would correct it. Parker, 385 U.S. at 363-64. The Court held that the defendant's right to confront and cross-examine the witnesses against him was violated by these comments, and that, given the official nature of the bailiff's position, the likelihood for prejudice was high. Id. at 365. 37 Just as the bailiff in Parker was essentially acting as a witness whose testimony the defendant could not confront and possibly discredit through cross-examination or the presentation of other evidence, so too was Juror A acting as a witnesshere in her statements to her fellow jurors regarding the results of her out-of-court experiment. As applied in this case, Ohio's Rule 606(B) allowed Juror A to conduct an experiment in her own home, even though it may have been deeply flawed in its methodology, and to present the results of that experiment to her fellow jurors, even though it may have substantially impaired the defendant's credibility, simply because no one else saw her conduct the experiment or heard her relay the results of that experiment to other jurors. Ohio Rule 606(B), by denying the Ohio courts the ability to consider evidence of the jury misconduct in this case, denied Doan's right to confront the witnesses and the evidence against him, and thus clearly stands in conflict with Supreme Court precedent recognizing the fundamental importance of this constitutional right. 38 The Warden argues that Doan's case is distinguishable because no inappropriate communications between a court official, or other outside source, and Doan's jury occurred. See Appellee's Br. at 20-21. Rather, the Warden argues that any misconduct in this case was the result of communication among the jurors themselves, and that 'the evidence of jurors[,] as to the motives and influences which affected their deliberations[,] is inadmissible either to impeach or to support the verdict.' Appellee's Br. at 20-21 (quoting Mattox v. United States, 146 U.S. 140, 149 (1892)). The Warden, however, misrepresents the holding of Mattox. 39 In Mattox, following a federal jury's guilty verdict, the defendant attempted to introduce several jurors' affidavits stating that the bailiff in charge of the jury had made inappropriate comments to them regarding the defendant's guilt and concerning certain incriminating evidence against the defendant that was not presented at trial. Id. at 142. The jurors also stated in their affidavits that, while they were deliberating, a newspaper was brought into the jury room that contained an opinion piece on the details of the trial and the strength of the evidence against the defendant. Id. at 143. This article was read aloud in the presence of the entire jury. Id. 40 The Supreme Court held that the juror affidavits in Mattox should have been considered by the trial court when addressing the defendant's motion for a new trial, and, in light of the affidavits, the Court then granted the defendant's motion for a new trial. Id. at 148-49, 151. In doing so, the Court distinguished between that juror testimony which can and that which cannot be used to set aside a jury verdict. Id. The Court held that a matter resting in the personal consciousness of one juror may not be used to upset a jury's verdict because, being personal, it is not accessible to other testimony. Id. at 148. The Court stated that it would not give the secret thought[s] of one [juror] the power to disturb the expressed conclusions of twelve. Id. In sharp contrast to the secret thoughts of jurors, the Court held that juror testimony as to overt acts of misconduct can be considered because the remaining members of the jury can testify as to whether or not those acts of misconduct actually occurred. Id. at 148-49. The Court recognized that, by drawing this distinction, verifiable evidence of a jury's consideration of extraneous prejudicial information could be considered by courts while still respecting the finality of jury verdicts by disallowing testimony as to the unverifiable thoughts of jurors 6 . See id. at 148-49. 41 Thus, the Supreme Court in Mattox held that, when addressing a motion for a new trial, courts should consider juror testimony concerning any overt acts of misconduct by which extraneous and potentially prejudicial information is presented to the jury, including juror testimony showing that a newspaper article relevant to the case was read aloud in the jury room.See Mattox, 146 U.S. at 148-49. The Mattox Court did not state, however, that courts should consider only those instances of misconduct in which there is inappropriate contact between the jury and a court official, or some other outside source.See id. 42 It is important to stress that we are not calling Doan's verdict into question by reviewing the private, internal deliberations of the jury. As the Supreme Court has noted, substantial policy considerations, including the finality of verdicts and the avoidance of post-verdict juror harassment, weigh in favor of limiting the extent to which we delve into that thicket. Tanner v. United States, 483 U.S. 107, 119-21 (1987). Instead, what makes this case different, and what triggers concerns of a constitutional dimension, is the fact that Juror A conducted an out-of-court experiment and reported her findings to the jury in the manner of an expert witness. Unlike an expert witness, however, Juror A's testimony was not presented on the witness stand, nor was it subject to confrontation and cross-examination by Doan's attorneys. Juror A's testimony was not on the record, nor was it governed by the same evidence rules as all the other evidence presented at trial. In short, Juror A's experiment and her subsequent report of its results, results which indicated that Doan may not have been truthful in his testimony on the witness stand, injected extraneous and potentially prejudicial evidence into the jury's deliberations, evidence which Doan and his attorneys had no chance to refute. 43 A review of this misconduct stands in stark contrast to an examination of internal factors affecting the jury. Whether the jury understood the evidence presented at trial or the judge's instructions following the presentation of the evidence, whether a juror was pressured into arriving at a particular conclusion, and even whether jurors were intoxicated during deliberations, are all internal matters for which juror testimony may not be used to challenge a final verdict. See Tanner, 483 U.S. at 117-22, 125. For a juror to perform and report to other jurors the results of an out-of-court experiment, however, conflicts with Doan's constitutional right to a fair and impartial jury that considers only the evidence presented at trial. 44 The Sixth Amendment requires, at the very least, that the evidence brought against a defendant and considered by the jury be presented at trial where the defendant can confront that evidence to the fullest extent possible. Turner, 379 U.S. at 472-73. Ohio Rule 606(B), by refusing to allow consideration of evidence of the improper juror experiment in this case, fails to protect adequately Doan's constitutional right to a fair trial. The state court's use of this rule to decide Doan's constitutional claim is contrary to clearly established Supreme Court precedent recognizing the fundamental importance of this right. See Parker, 385 U.S. at 364-65; Turner, 379 U.S. at 472-73 7 . 45 While we may not look to the decisions of lower federal courts for guidance when deciding whether a state court decision is contrary to clearly established Supreme Court precedent, Herbert, 160 F.3d at 1135, it is worth noting that we are by no means the first federal court of appeals to recognize that a state's aliunde evidence rule cannot be applied to violate a defendant's constitutional right to a fair trial. Thirty years ago, in United States ex rel. Owen v. McMann, 435 F.2d 813 (2d Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 402 U.S. 906 (1971), the Second Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Friendly, decided a case strikingly similar to this one. In Owen, a state prisoner sought federal habeas relief, arguing that his Sixth Amendment right to confrontation had been violated by extraneous statements made by three jurors about the defendant. Id. at 815. In Owen, the jurors had no outside contact with a court official, or anyone else for that matter; instead, several jurors told other jurors during the trial that they knew about the defendant's history, and that he was a bad person who was always getting in trouble. Id. As in Ohio, New York evidence law dictated that juror testimony regarding this misconduct was inadmissible to impeach the verdict. Id. at 819. 46 On appeal, the State of New York argued that, pursuant to a firmly embedded rule of evidence in New York, jurors could not impeach a verdict simply on the basis of what they said occurred in the deliberating room, that there were strong public policy justifications for that rule, and that the Second Circuit should not carve out an exception to the rule in that case. Id. Judge Friendly noted, however, that the State could not seriously contend that even if Owen were denied due process by virtue of the jury's consideration of prejudicial extra-record facts, New York law may independently foreclose him from challenging his conviction on federal constitutional grounds[.] Id. Despite the policy considerations weighing in favor of the New York evidence rule, the Second Circuit held that the habeas petitioner's constitutional right to due process was violated. Id. at 816-20. 47 Judge Friendly explained that while jurors can take into account their own wisdom, experience, and common sense, in doing so [they] must not bring extra facts into the jury room .... To the greatest extent possible all factual [material] must pass through the judicial sieve, where the fundamental guarantees of procedural law protect the rights of those accused of crime. Id. at 818 (citation omitted). The State claimed that, because this case involved jury misconduct inside the jury room as opposed to impropriety outside the jury room, both federal and New York law would hold it inadmissible. See id. at 819. The Second Circuit disagreed, stating that it is the nature of the extraneous material and its likely effect on the hypothetical average jury, not the source of the information or the locus of its communication, which determines whether thedefendant has been prejudiced[,] and thus whether his constitutional rights were violated. Id. at 820. 48 Since Owen, several circuits have followed suit in holding that a jury's consideration of extraneous material violates a defendant's constitutional rights. In Durr v. Cook, 589 F.2d 891, 892 (5th Cir. 1979), another case similar to this one, a Louisiana prisoner petitioned for habeas corpus relief on the grounds that a juror's out-of-court experiment violated his constitutional rights to confrontation and due process. In Durr, the jury foreman allegedly conducted an experiment at a local Ford dealership during the trial, making twisting movements in a Ford pickup truck in order to test the defendant's self-defense explanation. Id. The state trial court, on a motion for a new trial, enforced a Louisiana statute which prevented a juror from impeaching his own verdict, and held that the foreman could not testify as to the experiment or whether the results of that experiment were passed on to the rest of the jury. Id. at 892-93. The Fifth Circuit on habeas review, however, held that the defendant's constitutional rights take precedence over the Louisiana statute, and because the defendant presented a substantial claim that his rights may have been violated, the foreman must be allowed to testify as to his conduct. Id. at 893. The Fifth Circuit remanded the case to the district court to hold an evidentiary hearing and for further proceedings. 49 This circuit has also addressed the threat that out-of-court juror experiments pose to a defendant's right to a fair trial. InIn re Beverly Hills Fire Litigation, 695 F.2d 207, 211-12 (6th Cir. 1982), cert. denied, 461 U.S. 929 (1983), a federal diversity case, following a plaintiffs' expert witness's testimony, a juror conducted an improper experiment when he examined the aluminum wiring in his home and reported his findings to at least six other jurors during the course of the trial. The defendants in the case contended that the juror's conduct was neither an experiment nor an intentional attempt to uncover additional information, but instead was a personal experience which could not have affected the judgment of that juror or those to whom he communicated that information. Id. at 213. This court held to the contrary, however, stating that, rather than this being a mental or emotional reaction or expression during deliberations, this was an experiment that tainted the jury's verdict by injecting extraneous information into the trial. Id. 50 We explained in Beverly Hills that while the general rule under federal evidence law is that a juror may not impeach his verdict, an exception to this rule exists where external factors were present that may have affected the jury's deliberations.Id. This exception exists to assure that the parties receive a fair trial and that the integrity of the system itself is maintained. Id. We held that, because the experiment effectively provided the jurors with evidence not presented at trial, and because the information was so likely to have been prejudicial, we had no choice but to reverse the jury's verdict and remand for a new trial. Id. at 214-15. It is important to note that, even though the Federal Rules of Evidence applied inBeverly Hills, we spoke generally of the fundamental requirements of a fair trial, protections that are not relinquished upon entering the doors of a state courtroom 8 . See id. at 213-14. 51 Thus, we conclude that the Ohio courts' application of Ohio Evid. R. 606(B) effectively denied Doan the opportunity to show a violation of his Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to confront the evidence and the witnesses presented against him, as well as his right to a jury that considers only the evidence presented at trial. Furthermore, the Ohio courts applied Ohio Rule 606(B) while ignoring Doan's constitutional claim, thereby violating clearly established Supreme Court precedent recognizing the fundamental importance of Doan's constitutional right to a fair trial. Nevertheless, we may not grant habeas relief simply because Juror A presented the results of an improper experiment to other members of Doan's jury in violation of Doan's Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Instead, even though we hold that the extraneous influence on the jury in this case amounted to constitutional error, we may not grant habeas relief if that error was harmless. Nevers v. Killinger, 169 F.3d 352, 369-70 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 527 U.S. 1004 (1999). We now turn to the question of whether the constitutional error at trial was, indeed, harmless.