Opinion ID: 746455
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Claims Concerning Deliberative Process of Jury

Text: Charge 132 Because the jury had indicated that it was having difficulty reaching a verdict on some of the counts, the District Court delivered a supplemental instruction designed to encourage the jury to reach a verdict by requesting each juror to reconsider his or her respective position during continued deliberations. Such a charge is often referred to as an Allen charge, named after Allen v. United States, 164 U.S. 492, 17 S.Ct. 154, 41 L.Ed. 528 (1896), in which the Supreme Court approved the use of such an instruction. Defendants argue that they must receive new trials because the Allen charge delivered in this case coerced an otherwise deadlocked jury into rendering its verdicts. 133 We review a decision to give an Allen charge only for abuse of discretion, see United States v. Tines, 70 F.3d 891, 896 (6th Cir.1995), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 1180, 116 S.Ct. 1280, 134 L.Ed.2d 225 (1996), because the presiding judicial officer is in the best position to decide when to give the charge.... United States v. Sawyers, 902 F.2d 1217, 1220 (6th Cir.1990). We must examine whether, in its context and under all the circumstances, [the charge] ... was coercive. United States v. Aloi, 9 F.3d 438, 443 (6th Cir.1993)(quoting Williams v. Parke, 741 F.2d 847, 850 (6th Cir.1984)(quoting Jenkins v. United States, 380 U.S. 445, 446, 85 S.Ct. 1059, 1060, 13 L.Ed.2d 957 (1965))). 134 The District Court gave the Allen charge under the following circumstances. The trial began on March 28, 1995, and continued for approximately one month. On April 24, 1995, a Monday, counsel delivered their closing arguments and the District Court gave final instructions to the jury. The jury deliberated for one hour on April 24 and resumed its deliberations on April 26, a Wednesday. At 3:30 p.m. on April 26, the jury sent a note to the District Court which asked, What if we cannot reach a unanimous decision on all counts concerning one defendant? The District Court responded with a written note which stated, Please continue to deliberate and attempt to reach a unanimous verdict on all counts. 135 The jury continued to deliberate on April 27. At 2:45 p.m. on April 27, it sent another written communication to the District Court, stating Two defendants--Reach verdicts on some counts. Two counts per defendant. Deadlock on other counts concerning them. Please advise. The District Court again responded in writing, stating: If you have done everything you can do with respect to two defendants, please consider the cases against the other defendants. At 4:45 p.m., the jury indicated to the District Court that it wished to resume deliberating the next day. 136 Accordingly, the jury returned on April 28, a Friday. That morning, the jury notified the District Court that a juror named Shelby had brought a newspaper article and some personal notes from her home into the jury room. After advising counsel of this fact, the District Court interviewed Shelby in camera in the presence of a court reporter; although it is unclear whether all counsel also were present during the interview, at least counsel for Frost and the government were present. The transcript of the interview reveals that the District Court tactfully reminded Shelby that it had instructed her not to rely upon anything when deciding this case other than the evidence presented. Further, the District Court established that the article was not about the case itself, but an issue raised by the case, and that Shelby had prepared her notes solely from memory. Shelby also asserted that the other jurors had not read the article or her notes, and that the article would not influence her decision-making. Shelby attempted to explain why she had compiled the notes by blurting out, I felt a little maybe outnumbered, and I felt like I needed for my personal justification of the way I believe.... She stopped explaining, however, after the District Court interjected, We don't want to get into that. After verifying that counsel had no questions, the District Court allowed Shelby to return to the jury room but retained her article and notes, making them a court exhibit. According to the District Court in its July 13, 1995 memorandum denying defendants' motion for new trial, it became obvious through her personal notes that Shelby was generally favorable to the defense. The District Court rejected a request by government counsel to disqualify Shelby from the jury. 137 At about 2:15 p.m. on April 28, the jury sent another written message to the judge, stating that we have reached a verdict on some counts but cannot seem to on the others. Please advise. At that point, the District Court, over the objections of defendants, decided to give Sixth Circuit Pattern Criminal Jury Instruction 9.04, an instruction intended for deadlocked juries which tracks but does not duplicate the instruction in Allen. 11 138 At 4:15 p.m. that day, the jury returned a unanimous verdict; the jury found all defendants guilty of every count with which he or she had been charged, except that it found Frost and Turner not guilty of Count Eighteen, and found Turner not guilty of Count Thirty. When the District Court polled the jury, every juror responded that he or she concurred in the verdict. 139 Appropriately, defendants do not contest the wording of the Allen charge given by the District Court. The pattern instruction delivered in this case contained language which this circuit has identified as critical to any Allen charge: it directed both majority and minority jurors to reconsider their positions, see, e.g., Williams, 741 F.2d at 850, and it cautioned all jurors not to surrender their personal convictions merely in order to achieve consensus by acquiescing in the majority opinion. See, e.g., Aloi, 9 F.3d at 443; United States v. Nickerson, 606 F.2d 156, 159 (6th Cir.1979). Defendants instead argue that the charge, although properly worded, was nonetheless coercive under the particular circumstances of this case. Although circumstances alone can render an Allen charge coercive, we traditionally have found an Allen charge coercive when the instructions themselves contained errors or omissions, not when a defendant alleges that the circumstances surrounding an otherwise correct charge created coercion. See United States v. Scott, 547 F.2d 334, 337 (6th Cir.1977)(trial court failed to remind jury that no one should surrender honest beliefs simply because others disagreed, and suggested that continued disagreement would interfere unacceptably with commencement of pending civil trial); Jones v. Norvell, 472 F.2d 1185, 1185 (6th Cir.1973)(per curiam)(trial court told jury that they were the only ones who could reach a verdict); United States v. Harris, 391 F.2d 348, 352-53 (6th Cir.1968)(trial court told minority to consider views of majority, but not vice-versa). 140 We find that, under all of the circumstances, the District Court did not abuse its discretion by delivering an Allen charge. Defendants emphasize that the District Court knew at the time of the charge that juror Shelby was favoring the defense and was in the minority. They further stress that Shelby knew that the District Court knew of her position. Defendants rely upon United States v. Sae-Chua, 725 F.2d 530 (9th Cir.1984), in which 141 the court found that a lone dissenter who favored acquittal was unduly pressured by the [trial] court's supplemental instruction. The circumstances in Sae-Chua include that the jury foreperson reported which way the verdict was split (eleven in favor of conviction, one for acquittal) and accused the dissenter of having improperly stated that he believed the defendant was guilty but would not vote for conviction. The judge polled the jury and it became clear which juror was the dissenter. It was in this context that the court of appeals found that the dissenting juror must have felt he was targeted by the judge to reconsider his vote. 142 United States v. Lash, 937 F.2d 1077, 1085-86 (6th Cir.1991)(describing Sae-Chua ). Unlike in Sae-Chua, however, the trial court in the instant case did not know whether Shelby was the lone dissenter, and Shelby knew that the trial court did not know. Similarly, the District Court did not know whether Shelby was leaning towards the defense or was in the minority with regards to each defendant and each count. Further, the coercive pressures exerted in Sae-Chua by the open accusation of the foreperson that the sole dissenter was engaging in misconduct, as well as the trial court's decision to poll the jury, do not exist here. For these reasons and the reasons explained infra, we do not believe that the District Court abused its discretion or that Sae-Chua controls. 143 Another factor indicating a lack of coercion is that Shelby volunteered the information that she was in the minority and was leaning towards the defense. Where the jury has disclosed the split voluntarily and the instruction has not focussed on the minority, courts have generally upheld [an Allen charge]. Lash, 937 F.2d at 1086. In Lash, we found that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by giving an Allen charge in part because it had learned of the numerical split of the jury only inadvertently. See id. Although Lash differs from this case to the extent that the Lash jury did not reveal the particular position of the minority or the identity of any minority juror, see id., Lash also contains evidence of coercion not present here: a juror in Lash sent a note to the trial court asking to be excused. See id. 12 Further, Lash cited with approval three cases from other circuits approving an Allen charge even though the trial court had learned that the jury was split eleven-to-one in favor of conviction. See id. (citing United States v. Gabriel, 597 F.2d 95, 100 (7th Cir.1979); United States v. Robinson, 560 F.2d 507, 517 (2d Cir.1977); Sanders v. United States, 415 F.2d 621, 629-31 (5th Cir.1969)). 144 Stressing that lengthy jury service may render a jury minority particularly susceptible to coercion, see Williams, 741 F.2d at 850-51, defendants note that the jury had been deliberating for approximately three days after a month-long trial. The length of the deliberations in this case, however, is not particularly significant, given the fact that the jury had a tremendous amount of information to process (witness the length of this opinion) in order to decide thirty-one counts in a complicated case involving five defendants. Further, the jury notes sent on April 27 and 28, which revealed that the jury was unanimous as to some counts for some defendants, showed that the jury, including Shelby, had reached agreement on at least part of the case by working together during deliberations, not remaining in deadlocked stasis. Although we have observed that an Allen charge coming relatively early is arguably less coercive than one coming after a jury has worn itself out after several days of deadlocked deliberations, Sawyers, 902 F.2d at 1220, the circumstances of this case do not compel the conclusion that a tired minority finally acceded to the majority opinion in the face of an Allen charge delivered after days of emotionally difficult deadlock. 145 Finally, defendants invoke United States v. Ford (In re Ford), 987 F.2d 334 (6th Cir.1992), in which we held that the trial court had not abused its discretion by not giving an Allen charge but instead declaring a mistrial. See id. at 339-41. In Ford, however, the jury had deliberated for four days and had indicated on two occasions, once after two days of deliberations and once immediately preceding the declaration of mistrial, that it was hopelessly deadlocked. See id. at 340. Further, the jury disclosed both its precise numerical split and the position of its majority by revealing that it was split eight to four in favor of acquittal. See id. Moreover, the jury had not reached agreement as to any of the defendants or any of the charges at the time of the mistrial declaration, even though the trial court had instructed it that it could return a partial verdict. See id. Most importantly, Ford did not hold that the above facts precluded an Allen charge, but that they allowed the trial court to refuse to give an Allen charge. See id. Ultimately, the Ford opinion highlights the discretion accorded to trial courts. 13
146 After the jury rendered its verdicts on April 28, a juror approached the mother of Congo in the courthouse parking lot and informed her that juror Shelby had left the jury room during the afternoon of that day with the assistance of an unidentified deputy court clerk in order to lie down for about twenty minutes in the Clerk's office because she had been feeling ill from chest pains. Defendants subsequently moved for an evidentiary hearing on whether Shelby had been exposed to prejudicial external influences during her absence from the jury room; Congo attached to his motion the affidavit of his mother, in which she related the above incident in the courthouse parking lot. The District Court, which never knew at the time that Shelby had left the jury room to lie down, denied the requests for a hearing. 14 Defendants now assert that this denial of a hearing was improper and requires new trials. 147 In Remmer v. United States, 347 U.S. 227, 74 S.Ct. 450, 98 L.Ed. 654 (1954), the Supreme Court held that because juries in criminal cases must be free from outside influences, a trial court confronted with an allegation of external tampering or contact with a juror during trial about a matter pending before the jury should determine the circumstances, the impact [of the contact] upon the juror, and whether or not it was prejudicial, in a hearing with all interested parties permitted to participate. United States v. Rigsby, 45 F.3d 120, 123 (6th Cir.) (quoting Remmer, 347 U.S. at 230, 74 S.Ct. at 451), cert. denied, 514 U.S. 1134, 115 S.Ct. 2015, 131 L.Ed.2d 1013 (1995). Nonetheless, not all communications with jurors warrant a hearing for a determination of potential bias. Id. at 124 (quoting White v. Smith, 984 F.2d 163, 166 (6th Cir.1993)). Instead, an allegation of an unauthorized communication with a juror requires a Remmer hearing only when the alleged contact presents a likelihood of affecting the verdict. See id. at 123. Accordingly, we generally have required trial courts to conduct Remmer hearings only in cases involving claims of intentional improper contacts or contacts that had an obvious potential for improperly influencing the jury. Id. at 124. Further, the defendant must show that an unauthorized contact created actual juror bias; courts should not presume that a contact was prejudicial. See, e.g., United States v. Walker, 1 F.3d 423, 431 (6th Cir.1993); United States v. Zelinka, 862 F.2d 92, 95-96 (6th Cir.1988); United States v. Pennell, 737 F.2d 521, 530-32 (6th Cir.1984). We review a decision by a trial court not to hold a Remmer hearing for abuse of discretion. See Rigsby, 45 F.3d at 125; United States v. Griffith, 17 F.3d 865, 880 (6th Cir.1994). 148 In the instant case, the District Court did not abuse its discretion by refusing to hold a Remmer hearing because defendants presented no basis upon which to believe that Shelby even had experienced an external contact or communication regarding matters pending before the jury during her absence from the deliberations. The need for a Remmer hearing necessarily does not arise absent the existence of an outside influence on a juror, see Rigsby, 45 F.3d at 125; Griffith, 17 F.3d at 880, and the record here suggests only that Shelby retired to a couch in the Clerk's office to lie down for about twenty minutes, not that she ever encountered any external influence pertaining to this case during that period. 149 Defendants, however, argue that the District Court improperly denied them any opportunity to discover exactly what Shelby did during her absence. Defendants cite United States v. Shackelford, 777 F.2d 1141, 1144-45 (6th Cir.1985), in which we upheld a decision not to grant an evidentiary hearing when a juror had left deliberations and spoke with his wife for a few minutes before returning. Although we found that the defendants in Shackelford had failed to show that the juror had been exposed to any extraneous information which could have prejudiced them because the juror always had voted for guilt since the beginning of deliberations, see id. at 1145, defendants here emphasize that the trial court in Shackelford at least had allowed defense counsel to interview the jurors before denying the motion for an evidentiary hearing. See id. Defendants claim that the holding in Shackelford rests upon this fact, and complain that the Local Rules of the Eastern District of Tennessee allow counsel to interview jurors only with permission, which the District Court did not grant in this case. Defendants, however, could have tried to discover what happened to Shelby during her absence simply by talking to staff members of the Clerk's office. Accordingly, the District Court had no duty to hold a hearing on whether Shelby even experienced an external communication regarding matters pending before the jury, much less whether a given external contact was prejudicial. 150 During oral argument, counsel argued that reversal is required because the District Court did not instruct the jury to stop deliberating during the absence of Shelby. Defendants, however, have not submitted any evidence from nonjuror sources regarding the absence of Shelby, but instead rely upon the affidavit of Congo's mother, not included in the joint appendix, in which the only information regarding the absence of Shelby is a reiteration of a statement about her absence made by another juror. 151 Defendants have confined themselves in their briefs to arguing that the absence of Shelby is an issue only because external forces may have prejudiced her. Defendants apparently have recognized that the Congo affidavit provides only a limited basis upon which to attack the verdicts because it is based upon a juror statement. Federal Rule of Evidence 606(b) states: 152 Upon an inquiry into the validity of a verdict or indictment, a juror may not testify as to any matter or statement occurring during the course of the jury's deliberations ..., except that a juror may testify on the question of 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. Nor may a juror's affidavit or evidence of any statement by the juror concerning a matter about which the juror would be precluded from testifying be received for these purposes. 153 FED.R.EVID. 606(b). The Advisory Committee Notes to Rule 606(b) reveal that Congress rejected a proposed deletion which would have allowed challenges to verdicts on the basis of what happened during the jury's internal deliberations, for example, where a juror alleged that the jury refused to follow the trial judge's instruction or that some of the jurors did not take part in deliberations. FED.R.EVID. 606(b) advisory committee's note. 154 Rule 606(b) therefore prohibits an inquiry based upon evidence provided by a juror into the effect of the absence of Shelby upon the deliberative process, unless that evidence concerns an external prejudicial influence. See Tanner v. United States, 483 U.S. 107, 127, 107 S.Ct. 2739, 2751, 97 L.Ed.2d 90 (1987)(Rule 606(b) barred jury testimony of drug use by other jurors during deliberations; in general, possibility of nonjuror evidence of jury misconduct sufficiently protects Sixth Amendment interests); Shackelford, 777 F.2d at 1145 (upholding refusal to hold evidentiary hearing on absence of juror during deliberations; because jury members already had stated that outside forces had not influenced them improperly, Rule 606(b) barred further testimony); United States v. Camacho, 865 F.Supp. 1527, 1534-37 (S.D.Fla.1994)( Rule 606(b) barred evidence that juror was absent from jury room during deliberations, including when jury determined final verdict); see also Tines, 70 F.3d at 898 (Rule 606(b) barred consideration of juror affidavit outlining jury misconduct; effect of Allen charge upon jury did not constitute outside influence).
155 Turner asserts that the District Court erred by not declaring a mistrial or excusing a juror when she became a witness to his credibility. The other defendants argue that the District Court should have severed Turner from the trial once the juror at issue became biased. We reject these claims for the following reasons. 156 After Turner finished testifying on April 20, 1995, juror Golson reported to the District Court that Turner had stated you all take care of me to the jury as he left the witness stand. When defense counsel later asked Turner what had happened, Turner responded that he instead had stated, I hope I don't trip again, thereby referring to an incident during his testimony the preceding day, when he had tripped either ascending or descending the witness stand. Defense counsel also interviewed the court reporter, who, according to defense counsel, verified that she thought that Turner had said what he claimed to have said. 157 The next day, the District Court interviewed Golson alone in chambers. The following exchange occurred: 158 Court: Okay. Now, my question to you is what did you hear, if anything, Dr. Turner say? 159 Golson: He said you all take care of me. 160 Court: Let me ask you this. Do you know if any other juror heard that? 161 Golson: They didn't understand what he said, but they heard him mumble. I heard it plainly. 162 Court: Okay. Now, could he have said something like I hope I don't trip again or something like that? Do you remember when he got up on the stand there? 163 Golson: Yes. 164 Court: When he started to get up there. And could he have made some statement like that do you think? 165 Golson: No. 166 Golson informed the District Court that she had reported what Turner said because she had been instructed to report any communications from parties or witnesses. She further assured the court that nothing Turner had said would affect her ability to make a fair decision in the case, and that she understood that what Turner had said was not evidence. Finally, Golson told the District Court that four other jurors had heard her report what she thought Turner had said. 167 The District Court thereafter interviewed individually the other four jurors identified by Golson, and determined that none of these four jurors heard what Turner had said, although they did hear him mumble something. Three of the jurors, however, did hear Golson say what she thought Turner had said. The District Court denied a motion by Turner for mistrial or to disqualify Golson. The other defendants did not want Golson removed, but instead moved without success to sever Turner from the case and continue the trial with the jury constituted as is, but without Turner. 168 Under the Sixth Amendment, a defendant has the right to be tried by impartial and unbiased jurors. See, e.g., Ross v. Oklahoma, 487 U.S. 81, 85, 108 S.Ct. 2273, 2276-77, 101 L.Ed.2d 80 (1988). Turner asserts that this right was violated because Golson became a witness as to his credibility. Turner argues that it is unrealistic for a juror to repeat an alleged comment, be confronted as was Ms. Golson with a different version, and not expect that the juror would see that her story was disputed by the very person she was sitting in judgment upon. 169 Neither we nor the parties have located precedent similar to this case. Turner stresses that Federal Rule of Evidence 606(a) bars a juror from testifying before the jury in the trial in which the juror is sitting. Strictly speaking, however, Rule 606(a) does not apply here simply because Golson was not called as a witness. Rule 606(a) nonetheless underscores the importance of the general principle at issue here, the right to an impartial jury. 170 Turner argues that we must infer the existence of juror bias under these circumstances. The doctrine of presumed or implied, as opposed to actual, bias provides that, in certain extreme or exceptional cases, courts should employ a conclusive presumption that a juror is biased. See McDonough Power Equip., Inc. v. Greenwood, 464 U.S. 548, 556-57, 104 S.Ct. 845, 850-51, 78 L.Ed.2d 663 (1984)(Blackmun, J., concurring); id. at 558, 104 S.Ct. at 851 (Brennan, J., concurring); Smith v. Phillips, 455 U.S. 209, 221-24, 102 S.Ct. 940, 948-50, 71 L.Ed.2d 78 (1982)(O'Connor, J., concurring); id. at 231, 102 S.Ct. at 953 (Marshall, J., dissenting); Hunley v. Godinez, 975 F.2d 316, 318-20 (7th Cir.1992); Tinsley v. Borg, 895 F.2d 520, 526-29 (9th Cir.1990). These extreme cases occur when a juror has a relationship in which the 'potential for substantial emotional involvement, adversely affecting impartiality,' is inherent[.] Tinsley, 895 F.2d at 527 (quoting United States v. Eubanks, 591 F.2d 513, 517 (9th Cir.1979)); see also Hunley, 975 F.2d at 319 (courts presume bias when a juror is connected to the litigation at issue in such a way that [it] is highly unlikely that he or she could act impartially during deliberations); Person v. Miller, 854 F.2d 656, 664 (4th Cir.1988)(holding the same). For example, one court has presumed bias when a juror sitting in a murder trial in which the defense was battered-wife syndrome was herself the victim of domestic abuse. See Burton v. Johnson, 948 F.2d 1150, 1159 (10th Cir.1991). Conversely, courts have refused to imply bias when a juror was personally acquainted with a witness, see Tinsley, 895 F.2d at 528-29 (collecting cases), or when the employment of a juror is closely related to the substance of the trial. See id. at 529 (no implied bias in rape prosecution when social worker juror had counselled rape victim for eighteen months and testified on her behalf). Further, the Sixth Circuit has declined to presume bias when a juror unintentionally failed to divulge during voir dire that she was related to a law enforcement officer, and another juror unintentionally failed to disclose the fact that she and her family had previous contacts with the defendants and their families. See United States v. Howard, 752 F.2d 220, 223-25, aff'd on rehearing, 770 F.2d 57 (6th Cir.1985)(en banc); see also Walker, 1 F.3d at 431; Pennell, 737 F.2d at 530-32 (no presumption of bias when third-party communicates with juror). 171 The Supreme Court has never held explicitly that courts may infer or presume bias. See Dyer v. Calderon, 113 F.3d 927, 938 (9th Cir.1997); see also Howard, 752 F.2d at 223-24 (discussing but declining to decide whether majority opinions by Supreme Court in McDonough and Phillips, supra, have overruled doctrine of implied bias). Assuming that courts sometimes may, cf. Cox v. Treadway, 75 F.3d 230, 239 (6th Cir.) (rejecting claim that family relationship of juror with law enforcement agents was basis for causal challenge during voir dire due to implied bias), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 78, 136 L.Ed.2d 37 (1996), we find that the doctrine of implied bias does not apply in this case. 15 The mere fact that the District Court asked Golson if Turner actually may have said something other than what she thought he had said hardly compels the conclusions that Golson would assume that Turner was contesting her version of events and therefore would become incapable of remaining impartial. Although Turner notes that Justice O'Connor has suggested that courts might presume bias when a juror was a witness or somehow involved in the criminal transaction, see Phillips, 455 U.S. at 222, 102 S.Ct. at 948 (O'Connor, J., concurring), this statement simply does not apply to Golson, who did not witness the events giving rise to these prosecutions. 172 Having found that the doctrine of implied bias does not apply, we review the finding of impartiality by the District Court for abuse of discretion, bearing in mind that Turner bears the burden of proving bias. See Howard, 752 F.2d at 225; cf. Clemmons v. Sowders, 34 F.3d 352, 355 (6th Cir.1994)(decision to excuse prospective juror for cause reviewed for abuse of discretion). The District Court interviewed Golson and believed her assertions of continued impartiality to be credible, which the court was entitled to do. See, e.g., United States v. Rugiero, 20 F.3d 1387, 1390 (6th Cir.1994). Turner has presented no evidence to rebut this finding of credibility. Further, the District Court did not err by dismissing as speculation Turner's insistence that Golson knew that he had denied her version of events. To the extent that Turner is arguing that Golson could not remain impartial because she believed that Turner improperly had requested help from the jury, it was within the discretion of the District Court to find that Golson remained impartial because the comment that she had heard was neither inculpatory nor exculpatory in nature, and although improper, relatively innocuous.As noted, the other defendants claim that the District Court erred by denying their motions to sever Turner from their cases once Golson became biased against him and rejected his credibility. Because the District Court did not err by finding that Golson remained impartial, however, this argument necessarily fails.