TRIAL COURT PROPERLY REFUSED TO DISCHARGE A JUROR AND DECLARE A MISTRIAL AFTER JUROR CONDUCTED ONLINE RESEARCH ABOUT FALSE CONFESSIONS AND SHARED THE INFORMATION WITH OTHER JURORS (FIRST DEPT).
The First Department determined the trial court properly refused to discharge a juror and declare a mistrial after the juror conducted online research about false confessions and shared the information with other jurors:
After a jury note revealed that one juror had conducted online research on false confessions and shared it with the rest of the jury, the court providently exercised its discretion in denying defendant’s request to discharge the offending juror and concomitantly declare a mistrial. Defendant did not preserve his contention that the court should have conducted one or more individual inquiries … , and we decline to review it in the interest of justice. As an alternative holding, we reject it on the merits. The court took adequate curative measures by thoroughly admonishing the jury to disregard the information obtained by a juror, not to conduct any outside research, and to decide the case solely based on the evidence presented at trial … . The jury presumably followed these instructions … . The court also granted defense counsel’s request for individual polling of the jurors as to whether they had reached the verdict based only on the evidence and the law as instructed by the court, and not based on any outside influence, to which all jurors answered in the affirmative. Under the circumstances, the juror’s misconduct in researching and telling the other jurors about false confessions did not prejudice defendant. People v Jimenez, 2018 NY Slip Op 02018, First Dept 3-22-18
CRIMINAL LAW (JURORS, TRIAL COURT PROPERLY REFUSED TO DISCHARGE A JUROR AND DECLARE A MISTRIAL AFTER JUROR CONDUCTED ONLINE RESEARCH ABOUT FALSE CONFESSIONS AND SHARED THE INFORMATION WITH OTHER JURORS (FIRST DEPT))/JURORS (CRIMINAL LAW, TRIAL COURT PROPERLY REFUSED TO DISCHARGE A JUROR AND DECLARE A MISTRIAL AFTER JUROR CONDUCTED ONLINE RESEARCH ABOUT FALSE CONFESSIONS AND SHARED THE INFORMATION WITH OTHER JURORS (FIRST DEPT))/MISTRIAL (CRIMINAL LAW, TRIAL COURT PROPERLY REFUSED TO DISCHARGE A JUROR AND DECLARE A MISTRIAL AFTER JUROR CONDUCTED ONLINE RESEARCH ABOUT FALSE CONFESSIONS AND SHARED THE INFORMATION WITH OTHER JURORS (FIRST DEPT))/DISCHARGE (JURORS) (CRIMINAL LAW, TRIAL COURT PROPERLY REFUSED TO DISCHARGE A JUROR AND DECLARE A MISTRIAL AFTER JUROR CONDUCTED ONLINE RESEARCH ABOUT FALSE CONFESSIONS AND SHARED THE INFORMATION WITH OTHER JURORS (FIRST DEPT))/ONLINE RESEARCH (JURORS, CRIMINAL LAW, TRIAL COURT PROPERLY REFUSED TO DISCHARGE A JUROR AND DECLARE A MISTRIAL AFTER JUROR CONDUCTED ONLINE RESEARCH ABOUT FALSE CONFESSIONS AND SHARED THE INFORMATION WITH OTHER JURORS (FIRST DEPT))