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People v. Steele5/30/2002
33.)
The trial court correctly refused to consider evidence of the jurors' subjective thought processes. Accordingly, it did not abuse its discretion in denying the new trial motion to the extent it was based on this evidence.
In a closely related contention, defendant also argues that the two declarant jurors provided false information during jury selection. (See generally In re Hamilton, supra, 20 Cal.4th at pp. 299-300; In re Hitchings (1993) 6 Cal.4th 97, 110-116.) He notes that both jurors stated in court that they could follow the law as the court explained it and claims this was a lie because later they did not follow the law. Even if the declarations could be considered on this point, it would not entitle defendant to relief. As the trial court found, there was no evidence "that would indicate a previously held intention to intentionally disobey the court's instructions." Indeed, no clear conflict exists between the instructions and the jurors' asserted thought processes. The court can, and here did, tell the jury that a life without parole sentence means just that, but no one can predict the future with certainty. No one, including a court, can guarantee that a person will never be paroled or otherwise get out of prison. The possibility that sometime in the future a person might be released, perhaps because of a change in the law, is a matter "of common knowledge appreciated by every juror who must choose between a death sentence and a sentence of life without parole." (People v. Hovey (1988) 44 Cal.3d 543, 581.) Defendant has shown no misconduct during jury selection.
2. Improper Assertion of Expertise
Defendant also contends that the four jurors with alleged experience in the military and in Vietnam, and the two persons with alleged medical experience, committed misconduct by offering their expertise to the other jurors. To the extent the declarations stated what effect these jurors had on the deliberations, the statements are inadmissible under Evidence Code section 1150, subdivision (a), which, as discussed, prohibits evidence showing the effect that statements or conduct had "upon a juror either in influencing him to assent or to dissent from the verdict . . . ." However, portions of the declarations involved statements made or conduct occurring within the jury room. Those portions are evidence of objectively ascertainable overt acts that are open to sight, hearing, and the other senses and are therefore subject to corroboration. As such, the court properly could, and did, consider those statements. (People v. Hutchinson, supra, 71 Cal.2d at pp. 349-350; see In re Stankewitz (1985) 40 Cal.3d 391, 398.)
Defendant claims the jurors committed misconduct under the rule announced in In re Malone (1996) 12 Cal.4th 935: "It is not improper for a juror, regardless of his or her educational or employment background, to express an opinion on a technical subject, so long as the opinion is based on the evidence at trial. Jurors' views of the evidence, moreover, are necessarily informed by their life experiences, including their education and professional work. A juror, however, should not discuss an opinion explicitly based on specialized information obtained from outside sources. Such injection of external information in the form of a juror's own claim to expertise or specialized knowledge of a matter at issue is misconduct." (Id. at p. 963; see also In re Stankewitz, supra, 40 Cal.3d 391.) We conclude that the trial court acted within its discretion in denying the new trial motion. (People v. Delgado (1993) 5 Cal.4th 312, 328.)
In this case, as the trial court noted, extensive evidence was produced concerning the nature and extent of defe
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