Opinion ID: 451968
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: District Court's Conference with Juror Merkison

Text: 4 On March 30, 1983, one day after the jury began its deliberations, the jury sent a note to the court asking if it could have a private discussion with you based solely on the fact of jurors' participation, or if one juror could request a private discussion with you based on his or her need to be dismissed. The court called the jury to the courtroom to find out if the juror in question had a private medical problem which the juror may be embarrassed to announce in front of everyone, or if it has something to do ... a failure to cooperate. On learning that the basis of the problem was not medical, the court stated that it could not meet with the juror in private and sent the jury back to its deliberations. Early on March 31, 1983, the court revealed that Juror Merkison had requested a private meeting with the court because of personal reasons for being excused from jury duty. The court asked the foreman of the jury whether the problems were being worked out and deliberations could continue; the foreman replied that things have gone a lot smoother today, this morning, than they have in the past two days. The court then asked whether any juror desired to meet with him privately. Juror Merkison raised her hand. Over the objections of appellants' counsel, the court asked the jury to cease its deliberations and subsequently met with Juror Merkison in his chambers. A transcript of the conversation was prepared and was distributed to all parties after the meeting. 2 5 During this meeting Juror Merkison expressed her fear of retaliation on the part of appellants or other Outlaws and referred anecdotally to the way this fear had affected others. (She stated that Gloria, she changed--with this grand jury, she's changed her phone number and she's not even living at her house, she's in fear and added that the guy mentioned yesterday he allows no one--he requested no one pick his kid up from school ...). The court emphasized the responsibility that had been placed in the jury and the need for Juror Merkison to return to deliberations and to attempt, with the others, to reach a verdict. After the meeting Juror Merkison returned to the jury, which reached a verdict on April 1, 1983. Appellants object to the meeting on three grounds: 1) the court's entreaty to return to deliberations and reach a verdict was tantamount to a supplemental Allen charge instructing the jury that it was obliged to reach a verdict; 2) the court erred in not holding a hearing on the possibility of juror bias when it learned from Juror Merkison that jurors had spoken of their fear of retaliation; and 3) the exclusion of appellants and their counsel from the meeting violated their constitutional right to be present at all trial proceedings. 6 Appellants' first claim has little merit. This Circuit has declined to reject the Allen instruction. See United States v. Bailey, 468 F.2d 652 (5th Cir.1972), aff'd en banc, 480 F.2d 518 (1973). More importantly, the record is replete with indications that the court had no intention, nor did its moderate words create the effect, of administering an Allen instruction. First, the setting was not one in which the court sought to dynamite a stubborn or stymied jury, but one in which the court sought to provide guidance to an individual juror with personal problems. Second, the court's entreaty to Juror Merkison to render a fair verdict, whatever that might be or go back in there and work with those other eleven people and try to render a verdict did not approach the force of the language condemned in United States v. Jenkins, 380 U.S. 445, 85 S.Ct. 1059, 13 L.Ed.2d 957 (1965), which instructed jurors that [y]ou have got to reach a decision in this case. 380 U.S. at 446, 85 S.Ct. at 1060. Finally, the court's advice to Juror Merkison did not contain any of the elements of the Allen instruction held to be most troublesome: the suggestions that a juror should not trust her own opinions in deliberation or that a member of the jury who found herself in the minority should reexamine her position. United States v. Bailey, supra. 7 Appellants' second argument is no more compelling than the first. Not only is the procedure to be used in investigating alleged juror misconduct within the discretion of the trial court, United States v. Yonn, 702 F.2d 1341 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, sub nom. Weeks v. United States, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 283, 78 L.Ed.2d 261 (1983), but the failure to hold a hearing constitutes an abuse of discretion only where there is evidence that the jury was subjected to influence by outside sources. United States v. Chiantese, 582 F.2d 974 (5th Cir.1978), cert. denied, sub nom. Cerrella v. United States, 441 U.S. 922, 99 S.Ct. 2030, 60 L.Ed.2d 395 (1979). Discussions among the jurors as to their fear of the defendants are not inappropriate, so long as such discussions do not lead them to form an opinion of the defendants' guilt or innocence of the offenses charged. United States v. Yonn, supra. There is no evidence that the jurors' fear created any danger of this result. Juror Merkison expressed to the court her confidence that she could reach a verdict on the evidence; moreover, the jury ultimately convicted 13 of the 14 defendants, a result which hardly betrayed the influence of a fear of retribution. 3 8 Appellants' final claim, that their constitutional right to be present during the trial was infringed by their exclusion from the ex parte conference, merits closer attention. The Supreme Court recently considered a similar claim in United States v. Gagnon, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 1482, 84 L.Ed.2d 486 (1985), rev'g United States v. Gagnon, 721 F.2d 672 (9th Cir.1983). In Gagnon, a juror had become alarmed when he noticed one of the defendants in a criminal conspiracy trial making sketches of the jurors. An in camera conference was subsequently held between the judge, the juror and the defendant's lawyer, at which the judge assured the juror that though the defendant was an artist and the sketching reflected no danger, the practice had been stopped. No objection was raised to the absence of the defendants from the conference. The Court concluded that the mere occurrence of an ex parte conversation between a trial judge and a juror does not constitute a deprivation of any constitutional right. --- U.S. at ----, 105 S.Ct. at 1486 (quoting Rushen v. Spain, 464 U.S. 114, 125-26, 104 S.Ct. 453, 459-60, 78 L.Ed.2d 267 (Stevens, J., concurring)); a defendant has a due process right to be present at a proceeding only when his presence has a relation, reasonably substantial, to the fullness of his opportunity to defend against the charge. Id. (quoting Snyder v. Massachusetts, 291 U.S. 97, 106-08, 54 S.Ct. 330, 332-33, 78 L.Ed. 674 (1934)). In Gagnon, where the conference was only a short interlude in a complex trial at which the defendants' presence could not have been helpful and might have been harmful, their absence created no violation of due process. While their exclusion appeared to violate Rule 43, Fed.R.Crim.P., the Court held that the error was rendered harmless by the failure of defendants to object. A similar conclusion is required in the instant case. The conference was a short interlude in a complex trial, and the presence of the defendants was not only unnecessary to a full defense, but might have had an adverse effect on Juror Merkison. Any error under Rule 43 was rendered harmless by the conduct of the district court. Not only did the judge take great care in framing his comments to Juror Merkison, he made transcripts of the meeting available to counsel, and entertained objections to the meeting in the form of post-judgment motions. Counsel had ample opportunity to discover, and the court to evaluate, any prejudice to defendant's interests that may have arisen from the conference. See United States v. Yonn, supra, 702 F.2d at 1345 (error harmless where all parties subsequently provided with transcripts of meeting and court exercised caution in speaking with jurors); United States v. Dumas, 658 F.2d 411 (5th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 990, 102 S.Ct. 1615, 71 L.Ed.2d 850 (1982). The district court's ex parte conference with Juror Merkison provides no basis for reversal.