Court Opinion

ID: 9750536
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 15:05:47.396434+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:26:12.214514
License: Public Domain

Hill, J.,
dissenting. For the reasons stated below I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion.
As this Court stated in State v. Ovitt, 126 Vt. 320, 229 A.2d 237 (1967):
A jury is an integral part of the court for the administration of justice and on elementary principles its verdict must be obedient to the court’s charge, based solely on legal evidence produced before it and entirely free from the taint of extraneous considerations and influences. The test is not whether the irregular matter actually influenced the result, but whether it had the capacity of doing so. The stringency of this rule is grounded upon the necessity of keeping the administration of justice pure and free from all suspicion of corrupting practices. It is said to be “imperatively required to secure verdicts based on proofs taken openly at the trial *234free from all danger of extraneous influences.” Panko v. Flintkote Co., 7 N.J. 55, [62,] 80 A.2d 302 [, 306 (1951)].
Id. at 324, 229 A.2d at 240, quoted in State v. Woodard, 134 Vt. 154, 156-57, 353 A.2d 321, 323 (1976). “When dealing with the integrity of the jury a person has only to show the existence of circumstances capable of prejudicing the deliberative function of the jury. He is not required to prove that they actually did so.” State v. Brisson, 124 Vt. 211, 215, 201 A.2d 881, 883 (1964), quoted in Ovitt, supra, 126 Vt. at 324-25, 229 A.2d at 240, and Woodard, supra, 134 Vt. at 157, 353 A.2d at 323. “[L]ike Caesar’s wife, a jury must remain free and untainted by even suspicion.” Woodard, supra, 134 Vt. at 157, 353 A.2d at 323.
The conversations in the instant case had the capacity to influence the result. Regardless of the content of the conversations, there was nonetheless the capacity to influence by virtue of the fact that the conversations occurred in the presence of the other jurors. There thus existed the potential of influencing their vote.
Upon learning of each conversation, the court took no action to inquire about any prejudicial effect each may have had. The question quoted in the majority opinion, which was posed to the jury by the court, was asked before the court was made aware of the first conversation, and before the defendant had moved for a mistrial. Furthermore, the juror herself was never questioned by the court. The only information the court had in ruling on the defendant’s motions were representations by the state’s attorney and the court reporter. Such information is insufficient to support the court’s determinations that the conversations lacked the capacity to prejudice the jury.
Any claim of influence could easily have been resolved by a proper voir dire or by the calling of another jury. The court’s failure to take these steps, in my opinion, constituted error and a new trial should be ordered. I therefore cannot join in the majority opinion.
I am authorized to say that Justice Gibson joins in this dissent.