Opinion ID: 779400
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Tainted Jury. (Claim Y)

Text: 212 Williams argues that he was deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to a fair and impartial jury at the penalty phase because various jurors misconstrued as a threat a question that he asked defense counsel at the close of the guilt phase. The trial record shows that after the jurors returned their guilty verdicts, Williams said, Sons of bitches, in a voice sufficiently loud that the court reporter included this statement in the trial transcript. The trial judge did not hear Williams speak, however, and he did not interrupt the court proceedings. 213 On the day that the jury began its penalty-phase deliberations, an alternate juror reported to the bailiff that some jurors believed that Williams had threatened them. In response to questioning by the trial judge, the alternate juror stated that the jurors sitting in the center of the jury box had told her that after the verdicts were read, Williams looked at the jury and said that he was going to get all of them. She indicated, though, that there had been no conversation that day among the jurors regarding Williams's purported threat. The judge separately questioned three other alternate jurors, asking each whether Williams had directed any comments to the jury that day. Each answered negatively. 214 Out of the presence of the jurors, the trial judge observed that the alternate juror's report apparently related to Williams's incident after the return of the guilt-phase verdicts. The judge indicated that although he did not hear Williams's comment at the time that he made it, defense counsel had brought it to the judge's attention afterwards in chambers. Defense counsel then explained the circumstances of the incident, apparently for the second time, stressing that Williams did not direct any threat to the jury. According to counsel, after the reading of the verdicts, Williams turned to counsel and asked, Are those the sons of bitches who are going to decide what happens to me? Defense counsel urged the judge to poll the jurors concerning what effect the perceived threat had on their penalty-phase deliberations, and argued that the jurors' misunderstanding of Williams's question to counsel might warrant a mistrial as to the penalty phase. 215 The judge called the jury foreman into the courtroom for questioning. The following colloquy ensued: 216 THE COURT: It has come to the court's attention that there is a possibility that some remark might have been made by the defendant that was heard by the jury on the date that the jury returned its verdict at the guilt phase. Do you have any information concerning that? 217 MR. BRAMHALL: I do. 218 THE COURT: What is that? 219 MR. BRAMHALL: He did utter a statement as we were concluding. 220 THE COURT: What was the statement? 221 MR. BRAMHALL: I'm going to get each and every one of you mother fuckers. 222 THE COURT: Did you personally hear him make that statement? 223 MR. BRAMHALL: I did not. I saw him mouthing it; but I did not hear it. 224 THE COURT: In other words, were you able to make out the words? 225 MR. BRAMHALL: I was not. One of the other jurors was. 226 THE COURT: All right. Did that play any part in the deliberations of this case concerning the penalty? 227 MR. BRAMHALL: It did not. 228 THE COURT: Was there any discussion of that comment at any time during the penalty phase of this trial? 229 MR. BRAMHALL: No. Not until after the verdict had been reached. 230 THE COURT: You've now reached a verdict? 231 MR. BRAMHALL: We have. 232 At this point, the judge ordered that the jury return to the courtroom. 233 After the court clerk read the penalty-phase verdicts, defense counsel renewed his request that the judge canvass the jury to determine whether the perceived threat tainted the jurors' deliberations. The judge declined, stating that he was willing to accept the jury foreman's word that the jurors did not discuss the matter until after they had reached their verdicts. The judge further declared that, in any event, Williams's wrongdoing had provoked the situation, and Williams could not benefit from his wrongdoing. 234 The Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial `guarantees to the criminally accused a fair trial by a panel of impartial, indifferent jurors.' United States v. Sarkisian, 197 F.3d 966, 981 (9th Cir.1999) (quoting Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 722, 81 S.Ct. 1639, 6 L.Ed.2d 751 (1961)) (internal quotations omitted). However, the constitutional right to an impartial jury is not absolute. The Sixth Amendment affords no relief when the defendant's own misconduct caused the alleged juror partiality and the trial judge employed reasonable means under the circumstances to preserve the trial's fairness. See United States v. Hernandez, 952 F.2d 1110, 1116-18 (9th Cir.1991) (no relief when a juror observed the defendant making a slit across his throat, a motion to the witness who was on the stand and the court questioned the juror and admonished the entire jury to ignore any gestures or body language); United States v. Trevino-Rodriguez, 994 F.2d 533, 535 (8th Cir.1993) (no relief when the defendant interrupted defense counsel's opening statement and the trial court called an immediate recess, excused the jury, and the trial judge gave a curative instruction when the jury returned); United States v. Chaussee, 536 F.2d 637, 639-41 (7th Cir.1976) (no relief when the defendant attempted to escape from the courtroom in the jury's presence and the trial judge fully informed himself of what had occurred, assessed its impact on the jury, and promptly admonished the jury to disregard the defendant's misconduct), abrogated on other grounds by Lewis v. United States, 523 U.S. 155, 162, 118 S.Ct. 1135, 140 L.Ed.2d 271 (1998); see also Illinois v. Allen, 397 U.S. 337, 346, 90 S.Ct. 1057, 25 L.Ed.2d 353 (1970) (the defendant's Sixth Amendment right to be present in the courtroom at every stage of trial is not absolute and may be lost by the defendant's misconduct). 235 Our decision derives from practical concerns about the proper administration of criminal justice, which would suffer appreciably if defendants through their own misconduct could overturn the results of their trials. [G]ranting [habeas corpus relief] on the basis of [the defendant's] own misconduct would subvert the judicial process and allow [the defendant] to benefit from his own wrongdoing. If such behavior on the part of the defendant were held to require [relief], `it would provide an easy device for defendants to provoke [constitutional error] whenever they might choose to do so.' United States v. Stewart, 256 F.3d 231, 242 (4th Cir.2001) (quoting United States v. West, 877 F.2d 281, 289 (4th Cir.1989)). Justice Brennan, in his concurring opinion in Allen, 397 U.S. at 349, 90 S.Ct. 1057 (quoting Falk v. United States, 15 App.D.C. 446 (1899)), recognized this problem: 236 It does not seem ... to be consonant with the dictates of common sense that an accused person ... should be at liberty, whenever he pleased, ... to break up a trial already commenced. The practical result of such a proposition, if allowed to be law, would be to prevent any trial whatever until the accused person himself should be pleased to permit it.... This would be a travesty of justice which could not be tolerated.... Neither in criminal nor in civil cases will the law allow a person to take advantage of his own wrong. 237 Nonetheless, even when it is the defendant's own misconduct that jeopardizes the fairness of the trial, the trial court must use reasonable means tailored to the particular circumstances of the case to help ensure a fair trial. See Chaussee, 536 F.2d at 641. 238 In the case before us, the trial judge concluded that Williams's wrongdoing caused the jurors to perceive a threat, and this conclusion finds support in the record. Williams argues that he engaged in no misconduct because he did not threaten or even address the jury, but merely directed a question to defense counsel. However, the record shows that Williams's question was something more than the usual, discreet interchange between attorney and client that occurs when a court is in session. The court reporter heard Williams pronounce, Sons of bitches. Moreover, defense counsel deemed the incident sufficiently out-of-the-ordinary as to warrant explanation to the trial judge in chambers even before counsel learned of the jurors' perceived threat from the alternate juror who reported the matter. We are unconvinced that Williams cannot be held responsible for his unruly behavior in the courtroom simply because he may not have intended the consequences that ensued. Nor do we find it unreasonable to require a defendant such as Williams to refrain from engaging in behavior that could unnecessarily disrupt the court proceedings. The Constitution would protect none of us if it prevented the courts from acting to preserve the very processes that the Constitution itself prescribes. Allen, 397 U.S. at 350, 90 S.Ct. 1057 (Brennan, J., concurring) 239 It is clear that it was Williams's statement that created any possible problem in this regard, thus invoking the strong policy that a defendant should not profit from his own wrongdoing at trial. Furthermore, the trial judge's actions were reasonable to ensure that the jurors considered the case on the evidence presented, unaffected by any threat perceived from Williams's statement. The judge had earlier instructed the jurors that they must base their verdicts upon evidence, and evidence is what [they] heard from the witness stand and exhibits that were introduced into evidence. Prior to receiving the jurors' verdicts, the judge informed himself of what had occurred and determined that the jury had not discussed any perceived threat by Williams during the jurors' deliberations. In light of the strong policy against a defendant profiting from his own wrongdoing at trial and the trial judge's reasonable actions to ensure a fair trial, we conclude that Williams is not entitled to relief under the Sixth Amendment, and we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment in the state's favor on this claim.