Court Opinion

ID: 9485904
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 11:33:42.590203+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:51:26.475163
License: Public Domain

FERNANDEZ,
concurring with and dissenting to opinion:
I concur in the opinion except as to the part regarding jury misconduct. Part V., B. and the concluding paragraph. As to that, I dissent.
The question with which we are presented is a narrow one: if a juror has heard an assertion that a person on trial for murder and robbery was previously convicted of armed robbery, is that juror so tainted that the verdict must be overturned? Our dispute is similarly narrow, but exceedingly important. The majority, relying on Dickson and on its own independent reasoning, says that the answer is “yes” and when faced with those two facts sweeps away all other considerations. I say, not necessarily, and that we must still decide whether there was an effect *1199on the verdict under all of the circumstances of this case.
The majority opinion underscores the fears that I have expressed in a dissent to its earlier order granting reconsideration. Slip op. 1841 at 1844-45 (9th Cir. March 3, 1993). If certain comments were merely made by a juror, an almost 10 year old conviction for two vicious murders will be set aside. That, to my mind, is a travesty.