Court Opinion

ID: 9715900
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:19:20.954302+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:39.776659
License: Public Domain

Connolly, J.,
concurring.
I concur. However, I am disturbed by the multiple occurrences in recent years of newspaper articles slipping past bailiffs and ending up in the hands of jurors in Douglas County. See, State v. Jackson, 255 Neb. 68, 582 N.W.2d 317 (1998) (juror given newspaper during recess); State v. Kirksey, 254 Neb. 162, 575 N.W.2d 377 (1998) (we declined to address assignment of error regarding trial judge’s comments about newspaper found injury room); State v. Anderson, 252 Neb. 675, 564 N.W.2d 581 (1997) (newspaper injury room); State v. Carter, 241 Neb. 645, 489 N.W.2d 846 (1992) (juror in possession of newspaper during deliberations). See, also, State v. Anderson, supra (Caporale, J., concurring) (wondering where bailiff was when newspaper was taken into jury room).
It is the duty of the trial judge to admonish the jury regarding bringing extraneous materials into the jury room. However, it is the bailiff’s duty to see that that warning is carried out. The Handbook for Bailiffs During Jury Duty, section 3 at 3-4 (1998), which was prepared by the Nebraska State Court *293Administrator’s Office, states, “B. Specific Duties Pertaining to Jury Trials are to: ... . Guard against and prevent the introduction into the jury room or use of extraneous items, including laptop computers and reading material.”
Obviously, if a bailiff is to fulfill his or her duty, the bailiff is going to have to be present each time the jury is admitted into the jury room.