Summary
In People v. Marrero, (83 AD2d 565 [2nd Dept. 1981]), the Court affirmed the Trial Court's decision to set aside the verdict when it found that prior to deliberations the jurors and alternate jurors had engaged in extensive discussions of the evidence so that it "appear[ed] that the verdicts of the jurors may have been affected by outside influences, to wit, the opinions of alternate jurors, and extraneous material."
Summary of this case from People v. FordeOpinion
July 6, 1981
Appeal by the People from an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Meyerson, J.), dated December 23, 1980, which set aside jury verdicts finding each defendant guilty of manslaughter in the first degree and assault in the second degree, on the ground of juror misconduct (CPL 330.30, subd 2). Order affirmed. The evidence at the posttrial hearing established that prior to deliberations the jurors and alternate jurors engaged in extensive discussions of the evidence in the case, the credibility of the evidence, the nature of the neighborhood where the crimes occurred, the involvement of defendants and witnesses in street gangs, and the purported characteristics of Puerto Rican street gangs. Thus, it appears that the verdicts of the jurors may have been affected by outside influences, to wit, the opinions of the alternate jurors, and extraneous material (see People v. Brown, 48 N.Y.2d 388, 393-394). On these facts, it cannot be said that the trial court abused its discretion when it set aside the verdicts on the ground of juror misconduct (cf. People v. Gordon, 77 A.D.2d 662; United States v. Hockridge, 573 F.2d 752, cert den 439 U.S. 821; United States v. Panebianco, 543 F.2d 447, 457, cert den 429 U.S. 1103; United States v. Flynn, 216 F.2d 354, 374, cert den 348 U.S. 909). Damiani, J.P., Titone, Gibbons and Weinstein, JJ., concur.