Opinion ID: 1453298
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: jury experimentation

Text: After the verdict was entered, defense counsel learned that the jury conducted experiments regarding a noise on the tape to determine whether it was the sound of Officer Carrillo's gun being withdrawn from his holster. Defendant moved for a new trial. The court denied the motion, ruling there was no improper experimentation and that a request for an evidentiary hearing was prohibited by SCRA 1986, 11-606. In this case we do not consider evidence not properly admitted or experimentation based on facts or evidence not properly before the jury. Cf. State v. Doe, 101 N.M. 363, 683 P.2d 45 (Ct.App. 1983), cert. denied, 101 N.M. 276, 681 P.2d 61 (1984) (newspaper story regarding witness intimidation read by juror); Duran v. Lovato, 99 N.M. 242, 656 P.2d 905 (Ct.App. 1982), cert. denied, 99 N.M. 226, 656 P.2d 889 (1983) (jurors made independent speed tests during lunch break). The gun, holster, and tape  the instruments used by the jury to conduct the experiment  were admitted properly and were before the jury for its examination during deliberation. The question is whether it constituted improper experimentation when the jury tested the evidence before them in a way not discussed at trial and, if so, whether rule 606(B) allows the court to take evidence from jurors regarding its analysis of the evidence. Appellant asserts that the experiment created new or extrinsic evidence that may have tainted the trial. The authorities cited, however, considered actual extrinsic evidence that came to the jury outside of the court and the trial process. See, e.g., United States v. Hornung, 848 F.2d 1040 (10th Cir.1988) (juror conversed with an acquaintance regarding the defendant); Marino v. Vasquez, 812 F.2d 499 (9th Cir.1987) (juror conducted test to verify testimony at home using her husband's gun); Bayramoglu v. Estelle, 806 F.2d 880 (9th Cir.1986) (juror called law librarian to discuss degrees of murder); Jennings v. Oku, 677 F. Supp. 1061 (D.Hawaii 1988) (jury conducted experiment out of court using a juror's car that was not in evidence and not even same model as the one at issue); Durr v. Cook, 442 F. Supp. 487 (W.D.La. 1977) (juror reenacted crime outside of court); Gorz v. State, 749 P.2d 1349 (Alaska Ct. App. 1988) (juror personally investigated amount of time to walk from crime scene to where defendant had been observed). Unlike the cited cases, however, the jury in the instant case did not consider evidence or statements that were not presented to the court. In State v. Dascenzo, 30 N.M. 34, 226 P. 1099 (1924), this court considered a conviction for the sale of liquor. A bottle containing liquor taken from the appellant's premises was properly in evidence, and on appeal the court determined the propriety of the jury opening the bottle to smell its contents. This court held that the independent jury analysis was proper, stating: No juror can receive evidence without the exercise of some of its senses. Jurors are permitted to exercise their sense of sight, in seeing the witnesses, including the defendant, as they testify, and of observing their demeanor; they are also permitted to exercise their sense of hearing, in listening to the tone, as well as the steadiness or unsteadiness, of the voice, all for the purpose of deciding whether or not such witnesses are testifying truthfully or falsely. When physical things are introduced in evidence, jurors are permitted to look at them, to decide what they think concerning them. When liquor is introduced in evidence, jurors are allowed to look at it, and to take into consideration its color and appearance in deciding what they think it is. Again, if a bullet is introduced in evidence in a homicide case, and it becomes material to determine its size, caliber, or anything else concerning its physical appearance, jurors are permitted to look at it, and frequently take it in their hands and feel it, in order to determine what they think about it, and how its size and appearance harmonizes or conflicts with other evidence introduced in the case. We can appreciate no distinction between these matters of common procedure and allowing jurors to smell liquor after it has been introduced in evidence. By so doing, the juror did not gain independent evidence upon which to reach his conclusion, but simply tested the evidence already introduced, in order to properly determine its truth or probative value. In deciding every case, jurors must necessarily take into consideration their knowledge and impressions founded upon experience in their everyday walks of life, and the fact that these things affect them in reaching their verdict cannot be reversible error, because, indeed, jurors without possessing such knowledge and impressions could not be had. After the liquor in this character of a case has been received in evidence, to deny the jurors the right to look upon it, smell of it, and take into consideration its appearance and odor in determining what it is, results in closing their eyes against the acquisition of the truth. Id. at 36-37, 226 P. at 1100 (emphasis added). That case, in relevant part, is virtually indistinguishable from the case at bar. The evidence  the gun, the holster, and the tape  was properly before the jury; the jury used its experience and senses to examine that evidence. This conclusion accords with contemporary authority that has considered this question. See, e.g. People v. Kurena, 87 Ill. App.3d 771, 43 Ill.Dec. 277, 410 N.E.2d 277 (1980) (in murder trial where victim stabbed to death, jurors properly fashioned cardboard knife with which they evaluated evidence presented at trial because the actual knife had been admitted into evidence and the experiments had been attempts to verify the testimony); State v. Ashworth, 231 Kan. 623, 647 P.2d 1281 (1982) (jury properly conducted experiment using exhibits submitted to it to test veracity of testimony); State v. Thompson, 164 Mont. 415, 524 P.2d 1115 (1974) (jury may use physical evidence in conjunction with testimony to determine credibility as long as it acts in accordance with testimony and no new facts discovered; juror experiment with revolver not error); see generally Annotation, Propriety of Juror's Tests or Experiments in Jury Room, 31 A.L.R.4th 566 (1984). Although potential error may occur if an experiment creates a new evidentiary fact outside of the record for the jury, see Simon v. Kuhlman, 549 F. Supp. 1202, 1206 (S.D.N.Y. 1982); State v. Asherman, 193 Conn. 695, 741, 478 A.2d 227, 254 (1984), the jury must be allowed latitude to evaluate evidence and to use its experience to deliberate. United States v. Avery, 717 F.2d 1020, 1026 (6th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 466 U.S. 905, 104 S.Ct. 1683, 80 L.Ed.2d 157 (1984) (upholding conviction when the jury performed experiment using material entered into evidence). We find no distinction based on appellant's assertion that evidence had not been presented on the exact issue of whether the noise on the tape in fact had been caused by Carrillo pulling the gun from the holster. Apparently experts had not been able to ascertain whether the noise on the tape resulted from the officer pulling his weapon. The jury is not bound by expert opinion. State v. McGhee, 103 N.M. 100, 103, 703 P.2d 877, 880 (1985). Moreover, in evaluating the evidence presented, the jury is given latitude to use its judgment, and although no testimony had been elicited on the exact issue, the background information was all properly before the jury. In support of his claim of self-defense, defendant claimed that Officer Carrillo had pulled his weapon prior to being shot; the state attempted to prove the weapon had not been drawn until after the initial shooting. Furthermore, evidence had been presented at trial regarding how the pistol and holster functioned, and certain testimony raised the inference that the noise on the tape may have been caused by the gun being pulled from the holster. The jury was required to evaluate these conflicting versions of the truth, and it properly used the evidence before it to perform its duty. See United States v. Hawkins, 595 F.2d 751, 753 (D.C. Cir.1978), cert. denied, 441 U.S. 910, 99 S.Ct. 2005, 60 L.Ed.2d 380 (1979). Rule 606(B) deals with the competency of jurors as witnesses. That rule prohibits a juror from testifying as a witness regarding jury deliberations, 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. SCRA 1986, 11-606(B). Because no new evidentiary facts went before the jury during deliberations, testimony could not be elicited from the jury regarding its deliberations. See 3 J. Weinstein & M. Berger, Weinstein's Evidence, ¶ 606[04] (1988) (Rule 606(B) bars jurors from testifying regarding the processes by which a verdict was reached, although it does not prohibit testimony on experiments that create knowledge that has not been obtained through evidence).