Opinion ID: 203886
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: District Court Abused Its Discretion in Investigating Juror Misconduct

Text: The government argues that the court effectively minimized the potential for jury contamination in this case, or, at the very least, the defendants were not prejudiced by the court's approach. The government points to the fact that upon receiving a jury note calling the court's attention to the errant juror's actions, the district court immediately ordered the jury to stop deliberating. The government states that the district court then conducted an inquiry with the errant juror, the jury foreman, and the juror sitting closest to the errant juror to discern whether the jurors were in fact prejudiced by their exposure to outside material. Furthermore, the government notes that the court employed remedial measures, such as dismissing the errant juror and re-questioning all jury members, emphasizing that they were not to engage in any outside research or investigation. Although we accord the district court great flexibility in applying a curative procedure in the face of juror misconduct, we must still resolve whether the trial court investigated the claim appropriately and resolved it in a satisfactory manner. Id. Here, we acknowledge the lengths to which the district court wentit investigated the juror misconduct by engaging counsel on both sides and speaking multiple times to the errant juror, the jury foreman, and another juror. However, crucially, the district court did not inquire, either in a group setting or on an individual basis, as to whether jury members had been influenced by the errant juror's improper research and presentation. In its re-questioning of jury members, the district court made only slight modifications to its generic instructions and made no mention of the errant juror's improper communications. Our case law has consistently emphasized that the district court, in conducting its investigation, must ensure that jury members can remain impartial when they have been exposed to extrinsic information that is potentially prejudicial. See id. at 293 n.8 (holding no abuse of discretion exists in case where the retained jurors warranted that they would not consider [the information to which they were exposed that was not evidence]; and [the jurors] added that, in all events, what they had seen or heard would not influence their judgment); Boylan, 898 F.2d at 262 (concluding that there was no abuse of discretion in light of jurors' assertions of continued impartiality); see also United States v. Yeje-Cabrera, 430 F.3d 1, 11 (1st Cir.2005) (holding that there was no abuse of discretion where the district court questioned the jury as a group regarding improper discussions with an errant juror and invited individual jurors to contact it later if they found the need to do so). The district court's failure to question all jury members regarding their ability to remain impartial in light of the errant juror's misconduct was especially important given the challenges in ascertaining what went on in the jury room. As described above, there were indications, which the district court acknowledged, that the errant juror did not truthfully express the details of her presentation and was not forthcoming regarding the documents upon which she relied. Further, the jury foreman and the other juror questioned could not fully recollect what the errant juror had said to the jury. Given the uncertainty surrounding the errant juror's presentation, the district court erred in its decision not to mention the errant juror's improper communications in its re-questioning of the remaining jury members. Thus, we have no way of knowing whether the errant juror's internet definitions unduly influenced a jury member's finding of guilt. This additional inquiry regarding the errant juror's communications would not have been burdensome because the district court was already interviewing each of the jurors individually in order to inform them not to read the news or perform ex parte research. [6] We conclude that the district court's handling of the errant juror's misconduct constituted an abuse of discretion because it compromised the defendants' right to have a trial by an unbiased jury. [7]