Opinion ID: 159750
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: jury exposure to extrinsic material

Text: 6 We begin with Ingersoll-Rand's claim that a new trial is necessitated by the jury's exposure to extrinsic materials during deliberations. In the course of deliberations the jury requested a large writing tablet. In response to their request, the jurors were given an easel and large notepad which, unbeknownst to the court, contained nine pages of information written by the plaintiffs' counsel and one of the plaintiffs' experts during trial. When the notepad was discovered in the jury room after deliberations, the district court notified counsel and held two evidentiary hearings to determine whether the jurors were exposed to the pages. After hearing the testimony of the jury foreman and the juror who had acted as scribe, the district court determined there was not the slightest possibility Ingersoll-Rand was prejudiced by the presence of the notepad pages in the jury room. Ingersoll-Rand contends the district court erred and it is entitled to a new trial. 7 Unfortunately, this Court appears to have developed two different standards by which a trial judge is to assess the impact of exposure to extraneous material on a jury. In one vein of our case law, we have held jury exposure to extrinsic material warrants a new trial if there is the slightest possibility the exposure affected the verdict. See United States v. Byrne, 171 F.3d 1231, 1235-36 (10th Cir. 1999) (upholding district court's finding there was not the slightest possibility harm resulted from unadmitted exhibit inadvertently given to jury); United States v. Jaramillo, 98 F.3d 521, 525 (10th Cir. 1996) (same); United States v. Wood, 958 F.2d 963, 965-67 (10th Cir. 1992) (upholding grant of new trial where district court found slight possibility jury exposure to a prosecution exhibit inadvertently left in jury room might have harmed defendant); Johnson v. Makowski, 823 F.2d 387, 390-91 (10th Cir. 1987) (upholding district court's finding of not even the slightest possibility of harm where defense exhibit not received into evidence was given to jury); United States v. Marx, 485 F.2d 1179, 1184 (10th Cir. 1973) (finding, given overwhelming evidence of defendants' guilt, there was not the slightest possibility the presence of unadmitted government exhibits in jury room harmed the defendants). 8 In a second vein, we have held jury exposure to extraneous information creates a presumption of prejudice which may be rebutted by showing the exposure was harmless. See United States v. Aguirre, 108 F.3d 1284, 1288 (10th Cir. 1997) (holding jury's use of dictionary to look-up the definition of a term relevant to defendant's alleged offense raised presumption of prejudice); Mayhue v. St. Francis Hospital of Wichita, Inc., 969 F.2d 919, 922-26 (10th Cir. 1992) (upholding district court's order of new trial on basis that plaintiff failed to overcome presumption of prejudice raised by jury foreman's use of dictionary to define legal terms for other jurors); United States v. Hornung, 848 F.2d 1040, 1043-45 (10th Cir. 1988) (upholding presumption of prejudice test where third party volunteered information about criminal defendant to juror); United States v. Day, 830 F.2d 1099, 1139 (10th Cir. 1987) (upholding use of the presumption of prejudice approach when juror held brief conversation with government witness in court restroom); United States v. Greer, 620 F.2d 1383, 1385 (10th Cir. 1980) (upholding the application of the presumption of prejudice approach where U.S. Marshal engaged juror in conversation during lunch break at trial); United States v. Gigax, 605 F.2d 507, 515 (10th Cir. 1979) (upholding use of the presumption of prejudice approach to conversations between jurors and third parties). 9 Ingersoll-Rand urges us to conflate the two approaches, arguing we should presume prejudice, and then allow the rebuttal of that presumption only upon a showing that there is not the slightest possibility the extrinsic evidence affected the verdict. Such an approach has superficial appeal, but is inconsistent with our case law, which clearly treats the two approaches as independent methods of appraising the impact of extrinsic evidence on a jury. The critical distinction between the two approaches, of course, may be found in the placement of the initial burden of proof. Under the slightest possibility approach the burden however light of showing that harm occurred rests on the moving party. In contrast, the presumption of prejudice approach relieves the moving party of any burden and forces the nonmovant to prove any exposure was harmless. 10 One may posit factual distinctions between the situations in which this Court has employed the presumption of prejudice approach and those in which we have employed the slightest possibility approach: generally, we appear to use the latter when unadmitted trial exhibits stray into the jury room, while the former is generally applied where jurors actually come into contact with third parties. However, such factual distinctions strike us as tenuous at best, and we can see no justifiable jurisprudential reason why a jury's exposure to written statements not in evidence should be treated any differently than a jury's exposure to oral statements not in evidence. Compare Wood, 958 F.2d at 966 with Mayhue, 969 F.2d at 921-23. 11 Having identified this bifurcation in our case law, judicial discretion dictates that we leave its ultimate resolution for another day. First, precise resolution requires adopting one standard to the foreclosure of the other, an act which may only be undertaken by this court sitting en banc. In re Smith, 10 F.3d 723, 724 (10th Cir. 1993). Second, under the facts of this case, it is quite clear Ingersoll-Rand was not harmed by the presence of the extrinsic material in the jury room regardless of which standard is applied. 12 Under either standard, we review the district court's determination for an abuse of discretion, reversing only where the decision was arbitrary, capricious, whimsical, or manifestly unreasonable. Byrne, 171 F.3d at 1235; See also Mayhue, 969 F.3d at 922 (presumption of prejudice approach reviewed for abuse of discretion). Our deference is mandated by the limitations inherent in the appellate process, for we face a cold record, while the trial judge has the advantages of close observation of the jurors and intimate familiarity with the issues at trial. Mayhue, 969 F.2d at 922 (quoting United States v. Cheyenne, 855 F.2d 566, 568 (8th Cir. 1988)). The trial judge is therefore uniquely qualified to appraise the probable effect of information on the jury, the materiality of the extraneous material, and its prejudicial nature. Wood, 958 F.2d at 966 (quoting United States v. Bagnoriol, 665 F.2d 887, 885 (9th Cir. 1981)). 13 In this case, the trial court appropriately heeded our admonition to assess the possibility of prejudice by reviewing the entire record, analyzing the substance of the extrinsic evidence, and comparing it to that information of which the jurors were properly aware. Hornung, 848 F.2d at 1045. When it learned of the presence of extraneous evidence in the jury room during deliberations, the trial court notified the parties, and as the law of this circuit requires, held hearings to determine the extent of the improper contact. Id. After interviewing two jurors the foreman and the scribe who actually used the notepad the district court determined, as a matter of fact, the jury saw only the first of the nine notepad pages. However, in an abundance of caution, the court analyzed the effect of the extrinsic evidence under the assumption the jury had seen all nine pages. The trial court found all the information contained on the notepad was cumulative and duplicative of evidence properly admitted at trial. 2 Additionally, the presence of this information in written form did not prejudice Ingersoll-Rand because the jurors, which the district court described as particularly attentive, were allowed to take notes at all times during the trial. The district court thus concluded Ingersoll-Rand was not prejudiced by the jury's exposure and denied the motion for a new trial. Our review of the record, and in particular of the notepad pages present in the jury room, convinces us the district court's conclusion that Ingersoll-Rand was not prejudiced by no means constitutes an abuse of discretion. 14