Court Opinion

ID: 9579412
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:54:54.561892+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:35:29.887584
License: Public Domain

ALMA WILSON, Chief Justice,
concurring specially:
I concur in today’s opinion and write separately to emphasize the error in the jury notes that were available to the jurors during the deliberation process. In the course of the jury trial in this case, one juror observed the plaintiff in the hall at the courthouse and made a written note which included: “no limp sometimes.” This written note was taken into the jury room during jury deliberation. The question then became one of allowing the introduction into the “jury room during deliberation of an outside memo or matter that has not come through the critical eye of the trial judge, ... a matter ... not introduced into - evidence.” State ex rel. Dept, of Highways v. Lehman, 462 P.2d 649, 651 (Okla.1969). Hence, the trial court’s order granting a new trial must be affirmed.