Opinion ID: 1562759
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Jury Relied on Ecclesiastical LawGuilt & Penalty Phases

Text: Appellant's next claim implicates both the guilt and the penalty phases. Appellant maintains that, in reaching their verdict and sentence, jurors relied upon ecclesiastical law rather than solely upon the law of the Commonwealth, which, if true, would constitute a violation of appellant's rights under the First, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and the corresponding provisions of the Pennsylvania Constitution. [23] Specifically, appellant contends that unsworn juror declarations his counsel gathered some nine or ten years after trial describe how one juror always carried the Bible, would lead the jury in prayer, and read verses from the Bible during deliberation. [24] Appellant claims that appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate and develop this issue in post-verdict motions and raise it on direct appeal. [25] Appellant maintains that relief is not precluded by the fact that appellate counsel did not know that the jurors allegedly relied upon ecclesiastical law because his failure to investigate was unreasonable. [26] Appellant seems to imply that appellate counsel's awareness of prior juror exposure to potentially prejudicial newspaper information at voir dire gave rise to a duty to interview jurors. He then speculates that, by interrogating jurors, counsel may have stumbled across their exposure to other improper and/or prejudicial information during deliberation, including the information he includes in the juror declarations he attaches. [27] The Commonwealth counters that the claim is waived because the allegations forming the basis for relief were unknown until 1996, well after the conclusion of the direct appeal in 1989. It is ludicrous, argues the Commonwealth, to suggest that counsel can be ineffective for failing to raise a claim which he had no reason to know existed. The Commonwealth notes that allegations of prayer in the jury room only became known after present PCRA counsel's organization (the Federal Court Division of the Defender Association of Philadelphia) entered its appearance on behalf of appellant. The Commonwealth also asserts that it is improper for attorneys to elicit post-verdict declarations or evidence from jurors for the purpose of impeaching the verdict and, citing Commonwealth v. Zlatovich, 440 Pa. 388, 269 A.2d 469, 473 (1970), states that Pennsylvania law prohibits jurors from recounting their mental process in reaching their verdict. The PCRA court concluded that this ineffectiveness claim is waived and, based on reasoning similar to that put forth by the Commonwealth, lacks arguable merit. The court found consideration of the juror declarations to be improper and, after reviewing the declarations, concluded that, even if proper, the declarations do not provide support for appellant's claim because they do not demonstrate that the jurors read the Bible and considered biblical verses during deliberations. The PCRA court also noted that the declarations were obtained in late 1996 and early 1997, well after both trial and appellate counsel's representation had ended. It is a general rule of law that a juror may not impeach the jury's verdict after the jury has been discharged, though an exception to this rule is made in situations where the jury was exposed to an ex parte influence which possesses a reasonable likelihood of prejudice. Commonwealth v. Rollins, 558 Pa. 532, 738 A.2d 435, 451 (1999) (quoting Commonwealth v. Laird, 555 Pa. 629, 726 A.2d 346, 356 (1999)). Although they may testify to the existence of an outside influence, jurors are prohibited from testifying as to the effect which these extra-evidentiary influences had upon the jurors in reaching a decision, just as jurors are prohibited from recounting the mental processes by which they arrived at their verdict. Zlatovich, 269 A.2d at 473 (emphasis omitted). Additionally, we reiterate, this Court long ago noted that interviewing jurors after a verdict and obtaining from them ex parte, unsworn statements in answer to undisclosed questions and representations by the interviewers is highly unethical and improper and was long ago condemned by this court. Commonwealth ex rel. Darcy v. Claudy, 367 Pa. 130, 79 A.2d 785, 786 (1951). Assuming, for purposes of decision, the legitimacy of appellant's juror declarations, we reject the notion that appellate counsel was obliged to interview jurors to prepare the direct appeal. Counsel has a duty to undertake reasonable investigations or to make reasonable decisions that render particular investigations unnecessary. Commonwealth v. Basemore, 560 Pa. 258, 744 A.2d 717, 735 (2000) (citing Strickland, 466 U.S. at 691, 104 S.Ct. 2052) (emphasis added); accord Wiggins, 539 U.S. at 521-23, 123 S.Ct. 2527 (analysis of ineffectiveness claim for failure to investigate must focus on whether the investigation supporting counsel's decision not to introduce mitigating evidence of Wiggins' background was itself reasonable). Thus, counsel cannot be deemed ineffective for failing to investigate and introduce information he could not possibly have known about, so long as counsel's decision not to investigate was reasonable. See Commonwealth v. Sneed, 587 Pa. 318, 899 A.2d 1067, 1083 (2006) ([C]ounsel cannot be deemed ineffective for not introducing information uniquely within the knowledge of the defendant and his family which is not supplied to counsel.); Commonwealth v. Malloy, 579 Pa. 425, 856 A.2d 767, 788 (2004) (counsel cannot be ineffective for failing to pursue particular mitigating evidence where counsel had no notice of such evidence). However, strategic choices made after less than complete investigation are reasonable precisely to the extent that reasonable professional judgments support the limitations on investigation. Wiggins, 539 U.S. at 528, 123 S.Ct. 2527 (quoting Strickland, 466 U.S. at 690-91, 104 S.Ct. 2052). The circumstances of Sneed and Malloy, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court cases cited by appellant, are inapposite to appellant's present claim. In those cases, counsel failed to conduct even the most cursory of investigations into his client's background for the purpose of presenting mitigation evidence at sentencing. Capital counsel obviously have a duty to conduct reasonable investigations into mitigation evidence. But counsel do not have a recognized duty to interview jurors in the hopes of uncovering a collateral claim by which to undo the verdict. Furthermore, the fact that there was an issue in voir dire concerning juror exposure to media accounts does not give rise to a duty to go on a post-verdict fishing expedition into other, distinct, unrelated, speculative jury influences. As the PCRA court recognized, there is no evidence that counsel knew that the Bible was present in the jury room and was being relied upon for an improper purpose. Additionally, given that post-verdict questioning of jurors is strongly discouraged and that jurors generally may not impeach their verdict, appellate counsel's failure to question jurors in search of such a claim was perfectly reasonable. Finally, we agree with the trial court that the alleged presence of the Bible in the jury room and the occasional prayer do not prove improper use of the Bible as was at issue in Chambers. The presence of the Bible, and of prayer, do not mean that it was a factor in the jury's deliberation, much less that the jury somehow substituted biblical teachings for the governing law, and those substitute teachings were somehow harmful to appellant's case. For the foregoing reasons, this claim of ineffective assistance of counsel is without merit.