Court Opinion

ID: 9686640
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 15:59:35.124053+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:52:32.681165
License: Public Domain

HENDERSON, Justice
(concurring in result).
I concur in the result of this opinion thereby writing specially (a) to preserve the integrity of my dissent in State v. Finney, 337 N.W.2d 167, 172 (S.D.1983), and (b) to point out a great difference in this case and Finney.
Here, a full-blown evidentiary hearing was held and all jurors testified concerning the alleged improprieties in juror deliberation. In Finney, as reflected in my dissent at 172, no evidence was ever taken concerning the alleged improprieties of the jurors and a due process hearing was stonewalled. In Finney, I wanted the jury room opened up to light — to the taking of evidence. As the Supreme Court of Wisconsin in After Hour Welding v. Laneil Management, 108 Wis.2d 734, 737-39, 324 N.W.2d 686, 689-90 (1982), cited in my dissent in Finney and highlighted by Justice Wollman in his special concurrence therein, indicated:
While the rule against impeachment of a jury verdict is strong and necessary, it is not written in stone nor is it a door incapable of being opened. It competes with the desire and duty of the judicial system to avoid injustice and to redress the grievances of private litigants.

*842The concern for fairness to the parties and monitoring the integrity of the judicial system leads us to conclude that a trial court may, in appropriate circumstances, consider allegations that extraneous prejudicial remarks were made to jurors which were not a part of the judicially guarded evidence they received.
Finney, 337 N.W.2d at 170-71. Here, it was actually done (light did shine into the jury room) and findings of fact and conclusions of law were entered below by Judge Hertz consisting of four typewritten pages precisely pertaining to the jury’s deliberation. Judge Hertz’ ultimate Conclusion of Law 7 states: “The Petitioner’s requested relief cannot be granted where it is not established that the extraneous information was such as to prejudice the minds of the jurors and thereby affect their verdict.” Existing, obviously, was a weighing process by a trial judge of sworn statements by a jury as to the impact of extraneous information. The jury room, you see, was not closed behind an iron curtain. SDCL 19-14-7 is not an iron curtain. Were it so, bribery of jurors would never come to light, nor would threats to a jury on their life ever be exposed, nor would such an ugly thing as racial prejudice be ever brought to light. These are but a few examples. I longed for a due process hearing for Finney, as he whiled away his time at the State Penitentiary, that a due process hearing would be held to expose the horrendous deliberations in that case. My longing was of no avail. Federal Rule of Evidence 606(b), as codified by SDCL 19-14-7, permits a juror to testify on the question of “whether extraneous prejudicial information was improperly brought to the jury’s attention or whether any outside influence was improperly brought to bear upon any juror.” I reasoned in Finney that Finney’s conviction should be reversed and remanded with instructions to the trial court that it take evidence as to the jury’s verdict in the case “to determine if the verdict was discolored, tainted, and infused with improper jury influences.” Finney, 337 N.W.2d at 175. I indicated:
Contrary to Federal Rule of Evidence 606(b), the juror was never permitted to testify. No evidence was taken whatsoever. Thus, appellant was precluded from establishing • a record. How will you ever expose the racial prejudice of a jury unless the door is opened to hear it? A due process hearing has been stonewalled.
Finney, 337 N.W.2d at 175 n. 4. My exhortation was for naught. I am gratified that appellant was here granted a due process hearing and his charges of extraneous prejudicial information and outside influence was thoroughly explored.
I note several references in the majority opinion to cases cited in my Finney dissent. I can hardly quarrel with those authorities. To me, they stood for light. However, that I am not boxed in by the application of those authorities to the facts at hand via the language of this opinion, I concur in the result. I do not wish to see Federal Rule of Evidence 606(b) nor SDCL 19-14-7 become an iron curtain. The exceptions in that rule are there for a good reason, and it is this fundamental concept: that cases be decided upon evidence presented in the courtroom.
Although the remarks of juror Beeson were presumptively prejudicial, this presumption was overcome by the sworn testimony of the jurors at the hearing before Judge Hertz. Perhaps Beeson’s remarks were “molecules of extra-record matter,” but their infiltration appears to be inconsequential and without ultimate prejudice. United States ex rel. Owen v. McMann, 435 F.2d 813, 818 (2nd Cir.1970).