Court Opinion

ID: 9748013
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 15:48:23.975223+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:30.504729
License: Public Domain

*1452JOHNSON, J.
I respectfully dissent.
Before presenting my reasons for dissenting, however, I want to make it crystal clear what I am and am not contending. I am not arguing trial courts do or should have a duty to instruct jurors they have the power of jury nullification. That question is well settled, as explained both in the majority opinion and later in this dissent. There clearly is no such duty. What this case presents, however, is the near opposite issue—may the trial judge instruct the jurors they do not have that power (even though they do). Both sides agree what the trial judge told these jurors in this case is the functional equivalent of such an instruction. Whether such an instruction is permissible appears to be an issue of first impression in California and quite possibly the United States.
This case also presents a related issue, again of first impression. May the trial court threaten to remove jurors in the midst of deliberations if they engage or propose to engage in jury nullification? Clearly the court is entitled to remove jurors who prior to or during presentation of the evidence indicate an intent to engage in jury nullification just as it could remove jurors who indicate they intend to vote for guilt (or innocence) irrespective of the evidence. Prejudgment is grounds for removal no matter which side prejudgment favors. But if the juror’s decision to engage injury nullification arises during deliberations and on the basis of his or her consideration of the evidence and the total circumstances of the case, may that juror be removed because of an inclination to exercise a power accepted in Anglo-American law for some four centuries? For reasons explained below, I think not.
I agree that in California a trial court need not instruct a jury on their common law right to decide the law, as well as the facts, in a given case and arrive at a verdict which reflects the community conscience, if not the expected result under the law as given by the trial court. However, I also believe an entirely different situation arises when a trial court elects to give an instruction which essentially informs the jury they have neither the right nor the power to disregard the law and render justice in a given case, and which threatens removal from the panel as a sanction if jurors attempt to exercise their power of nullification. Because I conclude such an instruction is contrary to existing law and had the effect of coercing the verdict in this case, I would find the error prejudicial and reverse.
The Trial Court’s Instruction on the Jury’s Power of Nullification Constituted Reversible Error.
During their second full day of deliberations the jury sent the court two questions regarding felony murder. The first note inquired, “If we agree that it was a robbery and we agreed a murder took place during the robbery, does that mean it is automatically first degree murder?” The trial court told *1453the jurors, “The answer to that is yes. Murder taking place during the commission or attempted commission of robbery is murder, automatically murder of the first degree.” No one disputes the propriety of this response.
The jury’s second question asked, “Can we arrive at a verdict where we find the defendant guilty of robbery/2d degree murder?” The trial court then instructed the jurors as follows: “I read that question as being robbery-murder but murder resulting in second degree, ['ll The answer to that is no. To begin with, robbery is not charged so you wouldn’t find the defendant guilty of robbery at all or not guilty of robbery. The only issue is whether the defendant is guilty of murder, and, if so, what degree, and if guilty of murder whether he personally—whether he used a firearm in the commission of the murder.”
The trial court then gave a lengthy explanation of felony murder and offered numerous examples to illustrate the concept in practice.
The trial court concluded its answer, stating, “So that’s an explanation for [sic] the law. I did ask each of you during the jury selection process if you would be willing to follow the law even if you disagree with it. Now I’ve explained the reason for the felony murder rule and if after thinking about it any of you feel that if you did find the defendant committed a robbery and in the commission or attempted commission of it he committed a murder and are reluctant to follow the law to tell me, and I’ll excuse you from jury service because you’re not following the law.
“You have to decide the facts. The law is given to you and you apply the law to those facts. If you can’t do what you told me you were going to do, which is follow the law, then I will excuse you from jury service.
“It’s a tough situation to be in perhaps, but you’ve been asked only to find the facts, not to change the law, not to change the facts to fit the law that you would like it to be, but to follow the law after you determine what the facts are.” (Italics added.)
It is the court’s response to this question which I believe constituted error. It was contrary to existing law for the trial court to instruct the jury they lacked the power to nullify the verdict. Moreover, the trial court compounded the error by threatening to punish any juror who could not follow the law by removing him or her from the panel.
A California jury in a criminal case is instructed they have the duty to follow the law. (CALJIC No. 1.00.) Nevertheless, a criminal jury has the power to acquit even when their findings as to the facts, if literally applied to the law as stated by the trial court, would have resulted in a conviction. The jury’s right to refuse to apply a law perceived to be unjust or unpopular and to render a verdict consistent with their collective conscience is often *1454referred to as jury nullification. (See 2 LaFave & Israel, Criminal Procedure (1984) Right to Jury Trial, § 21.1(g), pp. 700-702; Gunther, The Jury in America (1988) Jury Justice, p. 219 et seq.)
This practice has solid historical credentials. In 1670, Bushell’s Case (1670) 124 Eng.Rep. 1006 established the right of a jury to find facts and apply the law to those facts according to their conscience without fear of judicial reprisal. In that case the jurors refused to follow the judge’s instructions on the law and were imprisoned after they acquitted William Penn and William Mead of unlawful assembly. The decision in Bushell’s Case repudiated the power of courts to punish jurors for reaching legally erroneous verdicts.1
In the United States the jury was legally empowered to decide both the facts and the law of a case in rendering their verdict during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. However, by the end of the 19th century courts became concerned the law might become “ ‘as variable as the prejudices, the inclinations, and the passions of men.’ ” (Sparf & Hansen v. United States (1895) 156 U.S. 51, 89 [15 S.Ct. 273, 288, 39 L.Ed. 343], quoting G. Worthington, Inquiry Into Power of Juries (1825) p. 193.)2 By then most jurisdictions chose to follow the contemporary English practice of not instructing the jury on their power to nullify a verdict and of not permitting the matter to be raised in argument to the jury. The role of the jury became restricted to a determination of facts alone. (156 U.S. at pp. 101-102 [15 S.Ct. at p. 293].)
This position has been reaffirmed in a number of federal decisions. (United States v. Dougherty (D.C. Cir. 1972) 473 F.2d 1113, 1137 [154 App.D.C. 76] [“An explicit instruction to a jury conveys an implied approval that runs the risk of degrading the legal structure requisite for true freedom, for an ordered liberty that protects against anarchy as well as tyranny.”]; United States v. Boardman (1st Cir. 1969) 419 F.2d 110, 116; United States v. Moylan (4th Cir. 1969) 417 F.2d 1002, 1005-1009; United States v. Trujillo (11th Cir. 1983) 714 F.2d 102, 105-106; see also discussion in Gertner & Mizner, The Law of Juries (1997) Jury Nullification, pp. 6-1 to 6-9.)
California has also adopted the same position. Nevertheless, today’s juries retain the power, if not the right, to refuse to follow the substantive rules of *1455law given them by the judge in reaching their verdict. (See, e.g., People v. Lem You (1893) 97 Cal. 224, 228 [32 P. 11] [a jury rendering a general verdict in a criminal case “necessarily has the naked power to decide all the questions arising on the general issue of not guilty; but it only has the right to find the facts, and apply to them the law as given by the court”]; People v. Powell (1949) 34 Cal.2d 196, 205, fn. 2 [208 P.2d 974] [same]; People v. Gottman (1976) 64 Cal.App.3d 775, 781 [134 Cal.Rptr. 834] [“. . . a trial court is under no duty, nor is it proper, to advise a jury concerning their power, as distinguished from their right, to return an unwarranted verdict or other factual finding.”]; People v. Partner (1986) 180 Cal.App.3d 178, 186 [225 Cal.Rptr. 502] [“We agree that the jury should not be instructed on so-called jury nullification.”]; People v. Fernandez (1994) 26 Cal.App.4th 710, 712 [31 Cal.Rptr.2d 677] [“[W]e hold that the trial court did not have to advise the jury of its power to nullify a verdict . . . .”]; People v. Baca (1996) 48 Cal.App.4th 1703, 1704-1705 [56 Cal.Rptr.2d 445] [“. . . we join other California courts in rejecting the claim that a defendant is entitled to have the jury instructed on the doctrine of nullification.”]; People v. Nichols (1997) 54 Cal.App.4th 21, 24-25 [62 Cal.Rptr.2d 433] [although a jury has the undisputed power to ignore the evidence and the law and to acquit if that is what it chooses to do, the courts have not required trial judges to instruct on that power].)
Several commentators suggest a jury’s power of nullification is a part of the right to jury trial guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment. (See, e.g., 2 LaFave & Israel, Criminal Procedure, supra, Right to Jury Trial, § 21.1(g), p. 701; Scheflin, Jury Nullification: The Right to Say No, supra, 45 So.Cal.L.Rev. 168, 187.) This argument is based on the United States Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Sixth Amendment right to jury trial in Duncan v. Louisiana, supra, 391 U.S. 145. There the court explained “[a] right to jury trial is granted to criminal defendants in order to prevent oppression by the Government. Those who wrote our constitutions knew from history and experience that it was necessary to protect against unfounded criminal charges brought to eliminate enemies and against judges too responsive to the voice of higher authority. The framers of the constitutions strove to create an independent judiciary but insisted upon further protection against arbitrary action. Providing an accused with the right to be tried by a jury of his peers gave him an inestimable safeguard against the corrupt or overzealous prosecutor and against the compliant, biased, or eccentric judge. . . . Fear of unchecked power, so typical of our State and Federal Governments in other respects, found expression in the criminal law in this insistence upon community participation in the determination of guilt or innocence.” (391 U.S. at pp. 155-156 [88 S.Ct. at p. 1451].)
Despite this significant aspect of the jury’s role in a criminal trial no reported California decision has held a trial court must instruct on its power *1456of nullification. (See, e.g., 5 Witkin & Epstein, Cal. Criminal Law (2d ed., 1997 pocket supp.) Trial, § 2927, pp. 235-236 and cases collected.) Nevertheless, the trial court in the present case could have responded to the jury’s question whether they could find robbery and still return a verdict of second degree murder by rereading CALJIC No. 1.00, which directs the jury to decide the case based on the facts and the law as supplied by the court. Alternatively, the court could have simply instructed the jurors to reread the instructions on their own. (See People v. Fernandez, supra, 26 Cal.App.4th 710, 713 [court simply answered “no” to jury’s question whether they had the option of convicting the defendant of a lesser crime even though they all agreed on the original charge; a better response would have been to reread the instructions to the jury].) Such a response would have been consistent with prevailing legal precedent of restricting the role of a jury to a determination of the facts, and consistent with the requirement of requiring jurors to follow the law. A direct and unembellished response would also not have run afoul of existing precedent holding a trial judge is not required to instruct on a jury’s power of nullification.
Instead, the trial court in the present case went well beyond refusing to instruct the jury on their power of nullification. The instruction the court gave affirmatively, unequivocally and erroneously told the jurors they did not have the power or right of nullification to return a verdict on a lesser charge than permitted by the facts and the law. At oral argument the People conceded the court’s instruction was the substantial equivalent of an affirmative instruction jury nullification is improper. Indeed, I am aware of no decision, and the People and the majority have cited none, holding an instruction which informs a jury they have no power of nullification is ever an appropriate response to a jury’s question on the subject. (Cf. Horning v. District of Columbia (1920) 254 U.S. 135, 138-139 [41 S.Ct. 53, 54, 65 L.Ed. 185] [although trial court informed the jury the agreed facts established a criminal violation as a matter of law and that they were not free to capriciously ignore the evidence, jurors were still allowed the technical right to decide against the law and the facts].)
The second flaw in the court’s instruction is that it informed the jurors they would be sanctioned with removal if they did not adhere to the court’s instructions. The trial court unambiguously informed the jury members they would be excused from further service as jurors if they refused to follow the law.3
The vice in the court’s instruction is not simply its coercive and threatening nature, although this characteristic alone presents its own problems. It *1457was also contrary to established California precedent holding jurors do have the power to nullify a verdict (see, e.g., Powell, Gottman, Partner, Fernandez, Baca, Nichols). The thrust and purpose of the trial court’s instruction was to interfere with the jury’s deliberations by prohibiting them from reaching a verdict consistent with their view of the facts, law and equities of the case as is a criminal jury’s right. However, it is not permissible for a judge in a criminal trial to interfere in a manner tantamount to directing a verdict against the defendant. (See, e.g., Horning v. District of Columbia, supra, 254 U.S. 135, 138-139 [41 S.Ct. 53, 54] [the judge in a criminal case cannot direct a verdict and instruct the jury to find the defendant guilty; the jury has the power to decide against the law and the facts].)
Moreover, the court’s instruction was contrary to established law that jurors cannot be punished if they choose to exercise their power of nullification. (Bushell’s Case, supra, 124 Eng.Rep. 1006.) Yet that is what the court proposed to do in this case. Any juror who refused to follow the law would be removed from the panel. Understandably, neither the People nor majority attempt to justify the court’s instruction on the ground a jury’s collective choice to refuse to follow the law in a given case constitutes the good cause necessary to discharge a juror. (Code Civ. Proc., § 233; cf. People v. Ramirez (1990) 50 Cal.3d 1158 [270 Cal.Rptr. 286, 791 P.2d 965] [illness]; People v. Collins (1976) 17 Cal.3d 687 [131 Cal.Rptr. 782, 552 P.2d 742] [juror emotionally unable to cope with the experience of being a juror]; People v. Green (1995) 31 Cal.App.4th 1001 [38 Cal.Rptr.2d 401] [bias]; People v. Williams (1996) 46 CaI.App.4th 1767 [54 Cal.Rptr.2d 521] [inability to comprehend simple concepts, votes or discussions during deliberations]; People v. Thomas (1994) 26 Cal.App.4th 1328 [32 Cal.Rptr.2d 177] [juror refused to deliberate]; People v. Halsey (1993) 12 Cal.App.4th 885 [16 Cal.Rptr.2d 47] [juror misconduct].)
The record clearly establishes the trial court’s erroneous instruction was prejudicial. It prevented the jury from exercising their community conscience and power to return a second degree murder conviction as they obviously wanted to do. Accordingly, I would reverse the judgment of conviction and remand for new trial.
On December 2, 1997, the opinion was modified to read as printed above. Appellant’s petition for review by the Supreme Court was denied February 18, 1998. Mosk, J., was of the opinion that the petition should be granted.

 For a comprehensive discussion of the historical background of jury nullification see Scheflin, Jury Nullification: The Right to Say No (1972) 45 So.Cal.L.Rev. 168.

 More recent cases acknowledge that jurors’ consciences or shared notions of equity, rather than bias, incompetence, or techniques of persuasion, are largely responsible for extra-legal jury decisions. (See, e.g., Duncan v. Louisiana (1968) 391 U.S. 145, 156 [88 S.Ct. 1444, 1451, 20 L.Ed.2d 491]; Williams v. Florida (1970) 399 U.S. 78, 100 [90 S.Ct. 1893, 1905-1906, 26 L.Ed.2d 446]; United States v. Spock (1st Cir. 1969) 416 F.2d 165, 182; see also Note, Toward Principles of Jury Equity (1974) 83 Yale L.J. 1023 and Christie, Lawful Departures from Legal Rules: “Jury Nullification" and Legitimated Disobedience (1974) 62 Cal.L.Rev. 1289 [exploring benefits and disadvantages of jury sovereignty].)

 We agree with the majority the trial court did not threaten the jurors with postverdict punishment. Instead, the court threatened to punish the jurors with removal to prevent them from participating in any decision reached in the case.