Opinion ID: 78313
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Exposure to a Book About the Role of the Foreperson

Text: As a matter of fact, and based upon the testimony given by the jurors in the hearing, the district court found that the extrinsic evidence accessed from the district court's own website by Juror 7 and mentioned by him in jury deliberations did not pertain to any substantive issue in defendants' trial. It concerned only the process of deliberation. Furthermore, it did not contradict any instruction given by the court, was consulted and discussed for only a few moments of a more than five-day deliberation. It was discussed to encourage full participation by all the jurors. The district court concluded that the exposure of the jury to this extrinsic information was harmless to the defendants. We agree. In substantially similar circumstances, we affirmed a district court's decision that a new trial was not required in a case where the jury foreman went to the library and checked out a book entitled What You Need to Know for Jury Duty, and then exposed the jury to it. United States v. De La Vega, 913 F.2d 861, 869 (11th Cir.1990). In that case, the foreperson read the book, implemented suggestions for jury procedures outlined in the book, brought the book to the jury room, and showed some other jurors a page in the book that outlined organizational steps for deliberation. Id. at 869-70. We held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that there was no reasonable possibility that the introduction of this extrinsic information prejudiced the defendants such that a new trial was required. Id. at 870-71. The district court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that the introduction of similar information in this case was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. The district court carefully investigated this matter. Its factual findings that this information was unrelated to the charges or any evidentiary matter in the case, and that it was introduced by a juror, not an outside influence, are not clearly erroneous. Furthermore, the district court held, and we agree, that the government's case was strong on the counts of conviction. In view of these findings, we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in holding that there was no reasonable possibility of prejudice to the defendants arising out of the exposure of the jury to this extrinsic evidence and denying the motion for a new trial.