Opinion ID: 1306424
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: misconduct of juror

Text: 5. Shortly prior to the submission of the case to the jury, the trial court and counsel for defendant received a call from an attorney in Minneapolis, not connected with the trial, informing the court and counsel that either at a dinner or at a party he had a conversation with the owner of Midwest Patrol, which is a security agency in St. Paul, in the course of which it was related to him that the sales manager for the Midwest Patrol was related to one of the jurors and that at a dinner with the sales manager there was a comment made by the juror to the effect that what is coming out in the trial does not compare with what has appeared in the newspapers. A hearing between counsel and the court was held in chambers, prior to a discussion of the charge to be given to the jury, in which this matter was discussed. The court indicated that the report was so vague that it did not warrant any action in the absence of a specific motion. No such motion was forthcoming and the case continued to completion. This alleged misconduct of the juror has now been included as one of the grounds for which defendant seeks a new trial. This whole subject is so exhaustively covered in Annotation, 31 A.L.R.2d 417, that it would be useless to discuss it in detail here. Our attention has been called to five decisions in which we have considered similar questions, namely, State v. Williams, 96 Minn. 351, 105 N.W. 265; State v. Lilja, 155 Minn. 251, 193 N.W. 178; State v. Soltau, 212 Minn. 20, 2 N.W.2d 155; State v. DeZeler, 230 Minn. 39, 41 N. W.2d 313, 15 A.L.R.2d 1137; and Gruenhagen v. Brelje, 252 Minn. 203, 89 N.W.2d 738. These cases, and we think it is the general rule followed elsewhere, establish the proposition that before the fact that a juror may have read a newspaper article discussing certain aspects of the case will furnish the basis for a new trial it must appear (1) that the juror did read such article and was influenced thereby to the prejudice of the defendant; and (2) that, having knowledge of the fact prior to the submission of the case to the jury, the defendant requested appropriate action by the court. If, having knowledge of the alleged misconduct, defendant chooses nevertheless to proceed with the trial to completion, it must be held that he has waived the irregularity. The same rule is followed here as with respect to other misconduct of the jury. Whether a new trial should be granted or not rests largely in the discretion of the trial court, who has an opportunity to ascertain whether any prejudice has resulted. See, Ceylon Farmers Elevator Co. v. Fidelity & Deposit Co., 163 Minn. 280, 203 N.W. 985; State v. Warren, 201 Minn. 369, 276 N.W. 655; State v. Rediker, 214 Minn. 470, 8 N.W.2d 527; Eichten v. Central Minn. Co-op. Power Assn., 224 Minn. 180, 28 N.W.2d 862. On the showing made here it seems obvious that the court was correct in denying the new trial on this ground.