Opinion ID: 78313
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Juror Deliberations

Text: Defendants rely upon purported emails allegedly exchanged between jurors during trial and deliberations. Documents said to be copies of such exchanges were mailed anonymously to the defense, to argue that there was both premature jury deliberation and deliberation by fewer than all the jurors in this case, and that this improper deliberation denied the defendants of their Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury. These allegations posed a very different problem for the district court from those suggesting that the jury had been subject to external influences. District courts are subject to very stringent limitations on their authority to question jurors about their deliberations, and to use one or more juror's testimony to impeach the verdict of all. In fact, for nearly a century, the Supreme Court has recognized a near-universal and firmly established common-law rule flatly prohibiting the use of juror testimony to impeach a verdict. Tanner v. United States, 483 U.S. 107, 117, 107 S.Ct. 2739, 97 L.Ed.2d 90 (1987); McDonald v. Pless, 238 U.S. 264, 35 S.Ct. 783, 59 L.Ed. 1300 (1915). The Court has repeatedly emphasized the important policy considerations that require the shielding of juries from public scrutiny of their deliberations. Williams v. Florida, 399 U.S. 78, 100, 90 S.Ct. 1893, 26 L.Ed.2d 446 (1970). The essential feature of a jury obviously lies in the interposition between the accused and his accuser of the commonsense judgment of a group of laymen, and in the community participation and shared responsibility that results from that group's determination of guilt or innocence. Id. Because our system of justice so prizes this unique and essential feature of our criminal justice system, it both anticipates and tolerates some level of imperfection in the system. United States v. D'Angelo, 598 F.2d 1002, 1004-05 & n. 4 (5th Cir.1979). [33] As the Supreme Court has explained: There is little doubt that postverdict investigation into juror misconduct would in some instances lead to the invalidation of verdicts reached after irresponsible or improper juror behavior. It is not at all clear, however, that the jury system could survive such efforts to perfect it. Allegations of juror misconduct, incompetency, or inattentiveness, raised for the first time days, weeks, or months after the verdict, seriously disrupt the finality of the process. Moreover, full and frank discussions in the jury room, jurors' willingness to return an unpopular verdict, and the community's trust in a system that relies on the decisions of laypeople would all be undermined by a barrage of postverdict scrutiny of juror conduct. Tanner, 483 U.S. at 120-21, 107 S.Ct. 2739 (internal citations omitted). Permission to attack jury verdicts by postverdict interrogations of jurors would allow defendants to launch inquiries into jury conduct in the hope of discovering something that might invalidate the verdicts against them. Jurors would be harassed and beset by the defeated party in an effort to secure from them evidence of facts which might establish misconduct sufficient to set aside a verdict. Id. at 119-20, 107 S.Ct. 2739 (quoting McDonald, 238 U.S. at 267-68, 35 S.Ct. 783). Such events would result in the destruction of all frankness and freedom of discussion in the jury room. Id. And, as early as 1892, the Supreme Court expressed concern that such postverdict investigation would induce tampering with individual jurors subsequent to the verdict. Mattox v. United States, 146 U.S. 140, 149, 13 S.Ct. 50, 36 L.Ed. 917 (1892). In a justice system that depends upon public confidence in the jury's verdict, such events are unacceptable. In an effort to protect the jury system, the Federal Rules of Evidence enshrine the common law rule against the admission of a juror's testimony to impeach the jury's verdict. Rule 606(b) provides: (b) Inquiry into validity of verdict or indictment. 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 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 indictment 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. 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. Fed.R.Evid. 606(b). By disallowing a juror to impeach the jury's verdict by testimony about their deliberations, the rule operates to protect jurors from postverdict investigation and to protect the verdict from endless attack. [34] We have previously affirmed district courts that have denied motions for a new trial while declining to conduct investigations into jury deliberations. Cuthel, 903 F.2d at 1381. In Cuthel, we held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in failing to conduct an evidentiary hearing despite evidence of premature deliberations by the jury and evidence of intrajury pressure to reach a verdict. Id. at 1383; see also United States v. Barshov, 733 F.2d 842, 852 (11th Cir.1984) (duty to investigate arises only in the context of extrinsic influence); McElroy by McElroy v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 894 F.2d 1504, 1511 (11th Cir.1990) (denying defendant's requests to interview the jury members based on allegations of improper deliberations). The district court said that it had serious reservations about the authenticity of these purported emails, but concluded that the law barred it from questioning the jurors about their deliberations, or about the emails purporting to suggest that the jurors deliberated improperly. [35] Instead, it stated that [e]ven if the Court were to assume arguendo the authenticity of these documents, it would not find that the emails established that the jury either deliberated prematurely or without all its members in any significant measure. The court based this conclusion upon its factual findings that some of the emails might relate to discussion of the case prior to the submission of the case to the jury, that others might indicate limited deliberation by fewer than all the members of the jury, and that some indicate possible consideration of penalties faced by the defendants. According to the district court, this was the most that the emails showed. The court concluded that, while it is unquestionably clear that such discussions constitute misconduct, it is not the sort of conduct that this Court can or should directly inquire into by interrogating jurors, nor is it in this Court's view grounds for granting a new trial. Considering the totality of the circumstances, the strength of the government's case, the length of jury deliberations, and the court's instructions to the jury, including the instructions not to decide or discuss the case prematurely, the district court held that there was no reasonable possibility that the defendants suffered prejudice from any premature deliberations, discussion of penalty, or deliberation with fewer than all the members of the jury present. We agree. Additionally, we note that the verdict in this case was split in that Siegelman was acquitted of many of the charges. [36] Such a split verdict lends supports to a conclusion that the jury carefully weighed the evidence and reached a reasoned verdict free of undue influence and did not decide the case prematurely. United States v. Dominguez, 226 F.3d 1235, 1248 (11th Cir.2000); Cuthel, 903 F.2d at 1383. We conclude, therefore, that the district court did not abuse its discretion in deciding that the purported emails, assuming they are authentic, do not entitle defendants to a new trial. The district court applied the relevant factors to the email evidence, and was well within its discretion to conclude that they did not demonstrate premature deliberation or deliberation with fewer than all jury members sufficient to arise to a constitutional violation. [37] 6. District Court Failure to Recuse Scrushy contends that he is entitled to a new trial because Chief Judge Fuller should have disclosed his extraordinary extrajudicial income from business contracts with the United States Government pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 455(a). This claim is predicated upon Chief Judge Fuller's ownership interest in two aviation companies that engage in business with agencies of the United States government. This claim was raised over nine months after trial and incorporated information learned from the internet and from Chief Judge Fuller's Financial Disclosure Reports. A motion for recusal based upon the appearance of partiality must be timely made when the facts upon which it relies are known. The untimeliness of such a motion is itself a basis upon which to deny it. Phillips v. Amoco Oil Co., 799 F.2d 1464, 1472 (11th Cir.1986). The rule has been applied when the facts upon which the motion relies are public knowledge, even if the movant does not know them. See National Auto Brokers Corp. v. General Motors Corp., 572 F.2d 953, 957-59 (2d Cir.1978). The purpose of the rule is to conserve judicial resources and prevent a litigant from waiting until an adverse decision has been handed down before moving to disqualify the judge. Summers v. Singletary, 119 F.3d 917, 921 (11th Cir.1997). Scrushy's recusal motion was untimely, based upon information readily available to him prior to trial, and has all the earmarks of an eleventh-hour ploy based upon his dissatisfaction with the jury's verdict and the judge's post-trial rulings. It has no merit. 7. Jury Selection Procedures Federal criminal defendants have both a statutory and a constitutional right to a grand and a petit jury selected at random from a fair cross-section of their community. Juror Selection and Service Act of 1968, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1861-1869 (the JSSA); U.S. Const. amend. VI. By its terms, the JSSA provides remedies for only a substantial failure to comply with its requirements for jury selection procedures that are random, objective, and that produce a jury that is a fair-cross section of the community. 28 U.S.C. § 1861 and 1867(d). Mere technical deviations from the JSSA's requirements do not violate the JSSA if they do not result in impermissible discrimination in the jury selection process. United States v. Gregory, 730 F.2d 692, 699 (11th Cir.1984). Before their trial, both Siegelman and Scrushy filed virtually identical motions, alleging that the Middle District of Alabama committed substantial violations of the JSSA in constructing its Qualified Jury Wheels in 2001 and 2005, and in the selection from those wheels of both their grand and petit juries. Defendants claimed that these violations resulted in their juries being not a fair-cross section of their community. Specifically, Scrushy and Siegelman challenged the Middle District's liberal deferral policy and its procedures for summoning previously deferred jurors, claiming that they resulted in juries that under-represented African-Americans. The district court denied these challenges. Defendants appeal this denial. Recently, a panel of this court has upheld the jury selection procedures of the Middle District of Alabama in a case raising virtually the same claims as those asserted here. United States v. Carmichael, 560 F.3d 1270, No. 07-11400, 2009 WL 539953 (11th Cir. March 5, 2009). Carmichael held that the Middle District's jury selection proceduresincluding the liberal deferral policy and the procedures for summoning previously deferred jurors did not substantially violate the JSSA. Additionally, Carmichael held that the Middle District's jury selection procedures did not result in the systematic under-representation of African-American jurors on the 2001 Qualified Jury Wheel or in the jury pools selected from that wheel. 560 F.3d at 1276. In his brief, which Siegelman adopted, Scrushy acknowledges the identity between the claims presented in Carmichael and his claims presented here, conceding that [b]ut for the fact that only the petit jury which was drawn from the 2001 jury wheel was challenged there [the petit jury was drawn from the 2005 wheel here], the issues presented overlap. This is not surprising since the same expert who opined in Carmichael about alleged violations of the JSSA and the Constitution is relied upon here, using the same evidence in support of those claims. At the time defendants filed their pre-trial motion, however, Carmichael had not yet been decided. Now that it has, it disposes of their claims as to the 2001 jury wheel. With respect to the 2005 wheel, the district court in this case held that defendants were not entitled to any relief because the challenged objectivity and randomness practices did not apply to that wheel. Additionally, the district court found that defendants had not shown the absolute racial disparity between the composition of his juries and the community at-large of over 10% that is required to establish a statutory or constitutional violation. See Carmichael, 560 F.3d at 1280; see also United States v. Grisham, 63 F.3d 1074, 1078-79 (11th Cir.1995). We agree. Defendants' claims regarding the Middle District of Alabama's jury selection procedures are without merit and do not entitle them to any relief. 8. Siegelman's Sentence Siegelman contends that the district court's decision to grant an upward departure under U.S.S.G. §§ 2C1.1 cmt. n.5, 5K2.0 (2002) violated the First Amendment and 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) because it was allegedly based on Siegelman's statements criticizing the prosecutors in and the prosecution of this case. If this were true, we might agree. [38] It does not, however, accurately describe the district court's reasons for the upward departure. In both its written motion for an upward departure and its arguments at sentencing, the government maintained that Siegelman's criminal conduct reflected such a systematic and pervasive corruption of the office of Governor and Lieutenant Governor, as well as various state agencies, such as the CON Board, as to cause a loss of public confidence in the government of the State of Alabama. The government's motion focused on this allegation of systematic and pervasive corruption of state government. The government contended that Siegelman for over six years abused the Executive Branch of the state of Alabama. The statute permits and the cases relied upon by the government uphold upward departures where the district court finds that there was pervasive corruption of a governmental function resulting in a loss of public confidence in state or local government. See U.S.S.G. §§ 2C1.1 cmt. n.5, 5K2.0; United States v. Shenberg, 89 F.3d 1461, 1476-77 (11th Cir.1996); United States v. Reyes, 239 F.3d 722, 744-45 (5th Cir.2001). Although the government did refer at sentencing to Siegelman's very public criticisms of the federal criminal justice system, including complaints of selective prosecution, there is no indication that the court based its upward departure decision on these attacks. In replying to Siegelman's counsel statement about saving the issue of alleged selective prosecution for another day, the court responded, Then let's do that. In considering the request for an upward departure as set forth in the Government's motion, the district court found that Siegelman's conduct resulted in a loss of public confidence in the executive branch of Alabama government. The district court took judicial notice of the plethora of media attention to the case by the local and national media, and relied on this in finding that the case had severely undermined public confidence in Alabama state government. Siegelman does not contend that an upward departure for his systematic and pervasive corruption of state government was inappropriate, and even his attorney at sentencing conceded that certainly the argument could be made, in all candor, that there could be some question as to public confidence in this case. The district court expressly stated that it was upwardly departing in order to preserve the integrity of the judiciary and the confidence of the people of the state of Alabama in its elected officials. We find no abuse of discretion in the district court's upward departure in sentencing Siegelman.