Court Opinion

ID: 9473053
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:18:11.33205+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:43:17.761875
License: Public Domain

WALLACE, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
The district judge held a hearing to determine whether the Time magazine article influenced the jury’s verdict and concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that it did not, in part because he found that none of the jurors discussed the Time magazine article together. I conclude that this finding of fact is not clearly erroneous, and thus I dissent from the majority’s holding that there was “at least a reasonable doubt about the magazine’s influence on the jury’s verdict.” Maj. op. at 1432.
The Court has stated “that due process does not require a new trial every time a juror has been placed in a potentially compromising situation. Were that the rule, few trials would be constitutionally acceptable.” Smith v. Phillips, 455 U.S. 209, 217, 102 S.Ct. 940, 946, 71 L.Ed.2d 78 (1982). The Court suggested that the government meets its burden of proof in a partiality hearing if it shows that the “jury [was] capable and willing to decide the case solely on the evidence before it, and [the] trial judge [was] ever watchful to prevent prejudicial occurrences and to determine the effect of such occurrences when they happen.” Id.
*1433The district judge explored the effect of the Time magazine article on the jury’s impartiality. He found that “the uncontradicted testimony of all the jurors” was that “no juror discussed the Time magazine article with any other juror at any time during the trial or deliberations, except an unknown person, whom [juror] Brown said was hearing from [juror] Graves.” The majority has decided to overturn the trial judge’s conclusion that the magazine article did not influence the jury’s verdict on the ground that this finding of fact is clearly erroneous. Maj. op. at 1432. Alternatively, the majority reverses on the ground that “the jury was clearly more conversant with the article than [the sum of] the district court’s findings would indicate.” Maj. op. at 1432.
I cannot agree with either ground. Although the district judge failed to mention juror Brown’s testimony that she also observed juror McGovern discussing the article with other jurors, it is clear from reading the transcript of the hearing that the judge did not believe any of Brown’s testimony. Moreover, although juror Jeffrey testified that McGovern had told her that she had obtained the magazine from her mother, Jeffrey never testified that the two had discussed the article. The record is also clear that Jeffrey’s cryptic statement that the article was “kind of looked at, and opened, and amidst — amidst the conversations in there” referred solely to her having glanced through the magazine in the noisy setting of the jury room, and not to any conversations taking place about the article among the jurors. Thus, the district judge’s finding of fact concerning the lack of conversations about the article was not clearly erroneous.
I also do not conclude that the sum of the district judge’s findings is clearly erroneous. His findings indicate that only three members of the jury knew the article existed. What the majority objects to, therefore, is not the sum of the district judge’s findings of fact, but his conclusion that, despite these findings, the article did not influence the jury’s judgment beyond a reasonable doubt. The Court in Phillips stressed that appellate courts should not reverse a jury impartiality decision merely because they believe there was some scintilla of doubt concerning the influence of extrinsic evidence. See 455 U.S. at 217-18, 102 S.Ct. at 946. I believe the majority fails to follow this sound advice. In this case at least, I would defer to the district judge’s conclusion that the magazine did not influence the jury’s verdict beyond a reasonable doubt.