A Question From A Juror...

I received the following letter last night, and although its waaaay past my bedtime, I decided to try tackling it with an honest answer. I'm sure I f*cked it all up and confused this juror more than I helped in answering his/her question but I will only blame my need for sleep and my need to have a new post on my blawg today. Someone throw me a bone and fill in the blanks that I know need filling in:

On 8/12/08, Jury Duty <*************@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi

I came across your blog and was wondering if you could answer a question for me.

I was recently a juror on a trial in ***************** County. The case is over, and we found the defendant guilty - it was a horrible, violent case. Ever since the verdict, my fellow jurors and I have been contacted by the investigator who works for the defendant (this person also testified during the trial). The investigator has called our home telephone numbers and even showed up on our doorsteps trying to speak to us.

How is this possible? I guess that's a stupid question with the Internet, search engines, etc. I guess my real question is how is it acceptable that an employee of the Defense has the home address of a juror? And why is it acceptable that our privacy be violated?

I've tried to contact the Public Defender's office directly, but they refuse to speak with me or answer this question unless I identify myself. So, here again my anonymity, my right to privacy is disrespected.

I would love to hear your thoughts? Is this something you do when the verdict doesn't go your way? Is this a common practice for PIs under the employee of the Defense?

Thanks,
Juror

Hi Juror!

I appreciate the email and I'm sorry you're having a hard time dealing with aftermath of the verdict on what was obviously a pretty serious case. I'll do my best to answer your question in the little time I have and I'll post your letter on my blawg (minus all identifying information of course) so maybe you can get a better response from the many other (smarter and better) investigators and attorneys out in the real world. Oh, and I apologize in advance for spelling errors and the grammatical horror which you are about to read...sorry...its late.

First off, I won't (and can't) make any excuses for the investigator (him/her) because I've had cases in the past that were also pretty serious that resulted in me having to make contact with the jurors at their homes and even places of employment after guilty or hung verdicts. Its part of our job.

You should understand that the investigator trying to make contact with you and the other jurors is not doing so at the personal request of the defendant on the case, he/she is not trying to intimidate you, and he/she is not doing it to satisfy his own curiosity. The only reason a defense investigator would attempt to contact a juror after a trial is because he has been requested to do so by the attorney representing the defendant.

The reasons for contacting jurors after a guilty verdict vary from wanting to know if it would have made any difference to the jury if a defendant had testified to asking if you would have considered a different verdict had you heard a piece of testimony or evidence that may have been excluded from the trial.

You may or may not be aware of it but A LOT of behind the scenes wrangling between the prosecutor, judge and defense team goes on regarding what evidence can or can't be used in court. A lot of times a jury will only see a small slice of the evidence or testimony from witnesses as a result of this legal wrangling.

Obviously, I don't know the details of your particular case so I can only speculate but for the most part, when I've been requested to interview jurors, I'm looking for any possible misconduct on the part of the jurors that occurred while deliberating or even while sitting at home watching the news with family and friends. Sounds crappy huh? Let me explain as best as I can...

I understand that 99% of jurors will follow the rules given by the judge on their case 100% of the time. I believe this! Unfortunately, I've gone to all day trainings involving Jury Misconduct that have shown that even with the good, honest citizens we have that serve on juries, even those who have the best intentions of completing their civic duty with some integrity and fairness....sometimes even those well intentioned people make mistakes...mistakes that cost people their lives and freedom.

One example: A PDI friend of mine recently completed a jury investigation on a multiple-murder case he handled. He made contact with two jurors on the case that explained to him that they felt they were bullied into agreeing on a guilty verdict when the truth was they were never certain of it. Not only were they not certain of it, but they named a couple other jurors that were also leaning towards a hung jury until the foreperson took it upon himself to hammer on these individuals verbally for not agreeing with him. They took his pressure for two days before caving in and delivering a guilty verdict.

Obviously this doesn't happen everyday but we would never have known about what was happening in the deliberations until we talked to people...the jurors who were actually present. The crazy part is that most of the other jurors didn't even recognize that this was going on right in front of them!

As far as your right to privacy goes (just from what you've told me), it is still very much intact. First, you should understand that you have every legal right to tell this investigator to piss off and you do not wish to have contact with him or anyone from his office. The investigator is obligated by law to abide by your wishes.

Simple as that.

IF you continue you be contacted by the defense investigator after you have clearly told him/her that you don't want to talk to him/her (and their office seems to be blowing you off) I see no reason why you should not contact the office of the judge that handled the trial you were on and see what they can do about it. As far as your right to privacy when calling a Public Defender Office, its hard to give sold answers when the people you are talking too, don't know what specific case you're calling about! If you're calling them with a problem about an employee of their office, it helps to explain the circumstances and this might mean giving them your name or at least the name of the case you served on.

As far as the investigator having your home address, most public defender offices in California (mine included) have access to most public records, records at the Department of Motor Vehicles and numerous private databases that are open to only law enforcement and a select few government agencies. We have the tools at our fingertips to locate anyone we need to in order to complete an investigation and represent our client to the best of our abilities.

That being said...

I can only explain that in the most simplest of terms, as an investigator for the defense (or Public Defender's Office to be more specific in my case), it is illegal for me to provide a client (defendant) with any contact information for a witness or a juror. Client's are many times provided copies of police reports and all identifying information must be redacted before it is handed over to them by our office. We would face stiff fines and possible jail time for violating this law...its happened before (Someone help me with the case reference...involved a Los Angeles County Public Defender?).

Although it may not make you feel any better, I'm certain that I can speak for all Public Defender Investigators (and PI's) when I say that we would never, under any circumstances risk the lives of anyone (juror, witness, family member) by divulging information to people who are simply not allowed or even supposed to have it.

Also, as much as I might really like a client, I would never consider risking my job, career, and reputation by doing something unethical or illegal...this includes divulging the address of a juror on his/her case. Just so you know, when I'm conducting jury investigations, the only person that actually sees the addresses and contact information for the jurors...is me. I've usually been the one to develop the addresses and I'm the one that takes responsibility for them.

Juror, I'm sure I haven't answered your question and I apologize...hopefully any attorney/investigator reading this blawg will post a stronger, clearer answer. I still strongly urge you to first try contacting the Public Defenders office again, this time being a little more up front about why you are calling and hopefully they can address the issue. If that doesn't work, I promise you that calling the judge that handled the trial will get you some answers.

Thanks and good luck!