Opinion ID: 1439456
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Honken's Trial

Text: Honken was charged with the murders on August 30, 2001, and his trial began in August 2004. Concluding Honken posed a serious security risk due to his prior escape attempts and threats against witnesses and officials connected with his trial, the district court ordered Honken to wear a stun belt and be shackled and bolted to the floor during his trial. To minimize potential prejudice to Honken, the district court ordered that Honken not be moved in the presence of the jury, that table skirts be placed on counsel tables so jurors would not see the shackles, that the shackles be fitted with sufficient chain to allow Honken to move naturally, and that the shackles make no noticeable noise. The government presented fifty-four witnesses, over 300 exhibits, and thirteen days of trial testimony. On October 14, 2004, the jury found Honken guilty of all 17 counts. [7] Shortly after penalty phase deliberations began on October 21, 2004, the jurors informed the court they were ending their deliberations early that day and they would not be deliberating the following day. Before leaving the building, Juror 523 asked a court employee for an excuse from work for the remainder of that day and the following day, because her boss had been making inappropriate comments to her about the trial. The district court immediately investigated the allegation, questioning Juror 523 that same day. Juror 523 informed the court her boss had made comments as he walked by her desk such as guilty, guilty, guilty, and when are you gonna burn him[?] At no time did juror 523 respond to any of her boss's comments. Juror 523 also told the court she had the impression, before she was picked for the jury, that the company hierarchy wanted her to get out of jury service, because her boss told her she should have stood up in court and said hang him. The court questioned Juror 523 further the next day, focusing on what she may have said to other jurors about her boss's comments. Juror 523 stated she had voiced her concerns about the jury's decision not to deliberate that day, saying she wanted to get her life back and explaining how hard it was for her to switch gears and go back to work. She acknowledged telling some other jurors her boss had said, guilty, guilty, guilty. At the conclusion of the questioning, the parties and the court agreed to remove Juror 523 from further deliberations. Next, the court instructed the other jurors not to continue their deliberations and began questioning each juror individually. One juror claimed to have no knowledge of Juror 523's boss's comments. Eight of the other ten jurors could not remember what the boss supposedly said, although five indicated they thought Juror 523's boss had been giving her a hard time about serving on the jury, rather than commenting about what the outcome of the trial should be. One juror stated Juror 523 indicated her boss made remarks such as `fry him' and stuff, and another juror stated Juror 523 indicated her boss made comments like hang him, or guilty, guilty, guilty as he walked by her desk. Every juror who was aware of Juror 523's boss's purported comments testified that nothing about the comments affected his or her ability to be fair and impartial. After questioning the jurors, the district court denied Honken's motion for a mistrial, giving Honken the option of proceeding with eleven jurors or replacing Juror 523 with an alternate. Without waiving his objections, Honken chose to proceed with an alternate, requesting Alternate Juror 425, who had professed no knowledge of Juror 523's boss's purported remarks. The court replaced Juror 523 with Alternate Juror 425, giving supplemental explanatory instructions and directing the reconstituted jury to begin penalty phase deliberations anew. The jury returned its penalty phase verdict on October 27, 2004, voting to impose the death penalty for Kandi's and Amber's murders, and life imprisonment for the Nicholson, Duncan, and DeGeus murders.