Opinion ID: 1214616
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether Juror X's comments were improper

Text: Unlike an insinuation of racial prejudice (as in Jackson ) or a comment regarding a defendant's failure to testify (as in Furutani ), Juror X's comments regarding her impression of Hawaiian Brian's, Sharkey's, and the Airport Hotel were not improper. It is perhaps inevitable that, during jury deliberations, jurors may verbalize, based on their background and experiences, their perceptions regarding certain establishments or locations mentioned at trial. Illustratively, Hotel Street in downtown Honolulu is commonly known by members of our community to be associated with criminal activity. If a defendant were tried by a jury for a crime that was committed on Hotel Street, it would not be unlikely for one or more jurors to comment during deliberations about Hotel Street's reputation. We believe that information regarding the reputation of an establishment or a community location is, in and of itself, insufficiently prejudicial to warrant the grant of a new trial.