Opinion ID: 1195427
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: prejudicial communication with the jury

Text: This is based upon an incident occurring during the trial. Mrs. Wallingford, a juror, reported to the sheriff she had received an anonymous telephone call and that the caller tried to give her information about the defendant, suggesting he had committed other similar acts. The trial judge, in his chambers and outside the presence of the jury but in the presence of counsel, questioned her about this incident. The judge inquired if she could disregard this and she replied she felt she could. She further replied she did not believe it would have any bearing on her verdict at all and agreed she would not mention it to the other jurors. There is no showing that any other juror was called. At the conclusion of his inquiry the judge asked defendant's counsel if he had anything further, and he replied he had nothing. When they returned to the presence of the jury the judge made a general inquiry of the jurors as to whether they had received any telephone calls mentioning the case, and when there was no response the trial judge again asked defendant's counsel if he was satisfied with the instruction to the jury, to which he replied in the affirmative. There was no motion for mistrial and no objection on the part of the defendant to proceeding. We must infer he was satisfied with this procedure and admonition, Oldham v. State, Wyo., 534 P.2d 107, 111, and Gallup v. State, Wyo., 559 P.2d 1024, 1026, so he cannot now be heard to complain. This court does not favorably view claims based upon briefcase error, Gallup v. State, supra. As the trial judge participated in and observed this incident, he was in a much better position than this court is to determine whether the defendant was prejudiced. After making thorough inquiries of the juror involved, the judge obviously concluded that an admonition to the juror and the entire jury would avert prejudicial error. This was clearly within his discretion, and there is nothing which indicates any abuse thereof. The record indicates no resultant harm to the defendant. To now find that the curative action taken was insufficient, and the judge's estimation of the problem erroneous, would be sheer speculation, Gallup v. State, supra, at 1026; State v. Spears, 76 Wyo. 82, 300 P.2d 551, 560. Judgment affirmed.