Court Opinion

ID: 9785715
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 22:16:42.804048+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:36:31.882217
License: Public Domain

KENNARD, J., Concurring.
I agree with the majority that a juror in a criminal case who votes to convict or acquit based on the juror’s own moral views rather than on applicable principles of law should be discharged. I write separately, however, to sound a note of caution about the manner in which a trial court should investigate an allegation of such misconduct.
When a deliberating jury tells the trial court that one of its members refuses to obey the court’s instructions on the law, the court faces a delicate and difficult task, because its “duty to dismiss jurors for misconduct comes into conflict with a duty that is equally, if not more, important—safeguarding the secrecy of jury deliberations.” (U.S. v. Thomas (2d Cir. 1997) 116 *464F.3d 606, 618.) A juror who votes to convict or acquit for reasons that violate the trial court’s instructions on the law commits misconduct. Yet the trial court cannot probe the juror’s motivations for fear of compromising the secrecy of the jury’s deliberations. (U.S. v. Brown (D.C. Cir. 1987) 823 F.2d 591, 596.) To permit trial judges “to conduct intrusive inquiries into . . . the reasoning behind a juror’s view of the case, or the particulars of a juror’s (likely imperfect) understanding or interpretation of the law as stated by the judge” (U.S. v. Thomas, supra, 116 F.3d at p. 620) would violate the secrecy of jury deliberations, a cornerstone of this nation’s jurisprudence, and it would “invite trial judges to second-guess and influence the work of the jury” (ibid.).
In People v. Cleveland (2001) 25 Cal.4th 466 [106 Cal.Rptr.2d 313, 21 P.3d 1225], a companion to this case, this court highlights the dangers of intruding upon the jury’s deliberative process: “Jurors may be particularly reluctant to express themselves freely in the jury room if their mental processes are subject to immediate judicial scrutiny. The very act of questioning deliberating jurors about the content of their deliberations could affect those deliberations. The danger is increased if the attorneys for the parties are permitted to question individual jurors in the midst of deliberations.” (Id. at p. 476.)
Thus, in questioning a juror to determine whether the juror is refusing to follow the trial court’s instructions on the law, as alleged by other jurors, a trial court should conduct only a very limited inquiry. The court should caution the juror that it does not want to know whether the juror is voting to convict or acquit the defendant, or the reasons for that vote. The court should then state that it wants to know only whether the juror is willing to abide by the juror’s oath to decide the case “ ‘according only to the evidence presented . . . and ... the instructions of the court’ ” (Code Civ. Proc., § 232, subd. (b)), to which the juror is to respond only with either “yes” or “no.”
If the juror’s answer is “yes,” the trial court should simply order the entire jury to resume deliberations. If the answer is “no,” the court should discharge the juror in question. If the juror’s answer is equivocal, the trial court may have to inquire further. In doing so, however, the court should be mindful of these words of warning: “Where the duty and authority to prevent defiant disregard of the law or evidence comes into conflict with the principle of secret jury deliberations, we are compelled to err in favor of the lesser of two evils—protecting the secrecy of jury deliberations at the expense of possibly allowing irresponsible juror activity.” (U.S. v. Thomas, supra, 116 F.3d at p. 623.)
In this case, the trial court’s questioning of Juror No. 10, quoted in full by the majority (see maj. opn., ante, at pp. 446-447), went beyond the limited *465inquiry described above. Rather than asking only whether Juror No. 10 was willing to follow the court’s instructions on the law, the court asked questions that were likely to—and did—reveal whether Juror No. 10 was of the view that defendant should be convicted or acquitted of the crime of unlawful sexual intercourse, and the reasons for that view. This unnecessarily broad inquiry may well have infringed upon the secrecy of the jury’s deliberations.
Because defendant did not raise this issue in his petition for review, the majority expresses no views on the propriety of the trial court’s line of questions. Thus, the majority opinion should not be read as expressing approval of the trial court’s overly broad inquiry of Juror No. 10. With that caveat, I concur in the majority opinion.