JUROR MISCONDUCT REQUIRED A NEW TRIAL, JURORS SHARED INFORMATION FROM A FORMER DA AND A FORMER POLICE OFFICER DURING DELIBERATIONS.
The Second Department, reversing defendant’s conviction, determined juror misconduct required a new trial. During deliberations two jurors shared information concerning trial evidence which was provided in one case by a former assistant district attorney and in the other by a retired police officer:
… [O]ne of the jurors improperly shared the views of her husband, who was a retired assistant district attorney, by telling the other jurors that he told her that everything the prosecutors said was true, that law enforcement officers would not lie, that the accomplice could never have come up with such an extravagant story in such a limited amount of time, and that crime scene videos didn’t show everything. Moreover, the evidence established that the juror’s comments regarding her husband’s statements influenced one juror who testified at the hearing. Additionally, another juror testified that during deliberations she sent a text message to her uncle, a retired police officer, and asked him if a nine millimeter bullet could fit into a .40 caliber gun. Her uncle told her “no,” and the following day she shared that information with the jury. People v Plowden, 2017 NY Slip Op 03779, 2nd Dept 5-10-17
CRIMINAL LAW (JUROR MISCONDUCT REQUIRED A NEW TRIAL, JURORS SHARED INFORMATION FROM A FORMER DA AND A FORMER POLICE OFFICER DURING DELIBERATIONS)/JURORS (CRIMINAL LAW, JUROR MISCONDUCT REQUIRED A NEW TRIAL, JURORS SHARED INFORMATION FROM A FORMER DA AND A FORMER POLICE OFFICER DURING DELIBERATIONS)