Bayramoglu v. Estelle

• Decision Date: 16 December 1986
• Docket Number: No. 85-2862,85-2862
• Citation: 806 F.2d 880
• Parties: 22 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 270 Fikri BAYRAMOGLU, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. W. ESTELLE, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 880

806 F.2d 880

22 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 270

Fikri BAYRAMOGLU, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. W. ESTELLE, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 85-2862.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted Aug. 11, 1986.

Decided Dec. 16, 1986.

Michael B. Bassi, San Francisco, Cal., for plaintiff-appellant.

Josanna Berkow, Deputy Atty. Gen., Blair N. Hoffman, San Francisco, Cal., for defendant-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Before WRIGHT and FARRIS, Circuit Judges, and LETTS, District Judge. ^*

LETTS, District Judge:

Fikri Bayramoglu appeals from the district court's denial of his habeas corpus petition. Bayramoglu contends that juror misconduct and bias tainted his conviction in state court for second degree murder. We affirm the district court's judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND ¹

I. THE CRIME

Bayramoglu, a Turkish immigrant, moved to the United States in 1973. In 1978 he met Tracy Lee Jones, the victim. Soon after they met they began living together in San Rafael, California. Early in 1980, Jones moved away to care for a family member who was ill. Bayramoglu became upset and depressed.

On April 17, 1980, Jones visited Bayramoglu in his apartment. According to Bayramoglu, Jones was on the bed and noticed that Bayramoglu was shaking. Jones asked what was wrong, and Bayramoglu said that he was going to kill himself. Jones responded, "No, you're not." Bayramoglu When Bayramoglu thought he heard Jones say something, he ran across the street to a store to try to get help for her. He asked the people in the store "to go help Tracy, to try to save her." Bayramoglu was screaming that he wanted to die, that he had killed Jones and wanted to kill himself. He told the paramedics who came to treat him to stop helping him and to go help Jones. He kept repeating this for about ten minutes until an ambulance arrived.

said, "Yes, I am," took a .32 caliber pistol from behind his back, and shot Jones several times. He put the gun to his own head and squeezed the trigger, but the gun did not fire. Bayramoglu then tried to plunge a large kitchen knife into his heart.

The district attorney filed an information on March 22, 1982, charging Bayramoglu with first degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of that offense, and being armed with a deadly weapon. Bayramoglu pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity, and denied the enhancement allegations.

II. JUROR MISCONDUCT AND BIAS

Jury trial began on July 1, 1982, ² in Marin County Superior Court. At trial Bayramoglu sought a verdict of either not guilty by reason of insanity, or manslaughter. At some point prior to the jury's deliberations, and without the court's knowledge, one juror, Virginia Digesti, visited the courthouse law library "to solve some questions in [her] mind," apparently about the distinction between first and second degree murder and the attendant penalties. ³

On August 6, the jury retired to deliberate. On Monday, August 9, the jury sent the trial judge a note stating that the jury had unanimously agreed on the presence of intent and malice, and therefore could agree that the defendant was guilty of at least second degree murder, but appeared to be deadlocked on the issues of premeditation and deliberation.

A portion of this note had been crossed out. The second sentence, before the crossing-out, read as follows: "However, the jury is divided on premeditation and deliberation, and several of them feel that they could not agree on a verdict other than first degree murder, and we may be deadlocked on this point." (Stricken language emphasized.)

The next morning, August 10, the judge told counsel that he had learned that a juror may have asked the courthouse law librarian about "the law, capital punishment, degrees of murder, parole eligibility, et cetera." The judge ordered the jury to cease deliberating, and then conducted an in camera conference with the law librarian, Meyer Halprin. Halprin, under oath, testified as follows:

A I answered the telephone. A woman's voice asked me if there was capital punishment in the State of California.

Q What time was this, about?

A This occurred about--approximately 10 after 10:00, somewhere around there....

The telephone conversation--the caller said, "Is there capital punishment in California?" I said, "Yes." The caller said, "Can you tell me the difference between first and second degree murder?" I said, "That depends on the circumstances." We then had an exchange about the difficulty to tell the difference between first and second degree murder, because there sometimes isn't the agreement between the experts. "Yes" she agreed, and then she asked me directly in second degree murder if a person is eligible for parole. I said, "That's up to the parole board to decide." She said, "You know, I was in yesterday...."

I think she said, "yesterday[.]

"... and couldn't get the answer to this question. It is very difficult for me to get an answer to this question. I need After Halprin had testified to this conversation, the trial judge, with counsel's consent, spoke privately with all of the jurors as a group. The judge told counsel later that he had asked, "gently," whether anyone had spoken to the law librarian and that all had denied taking part in such a conversation. The judge then questioned the jury foreman alone, who related that one of the jurors, whom he identified by first name, physical appearance and position in the jury box, had during deliberations "mentioned that first degree murder would be, in this instance--could be anywhere from 15 years to life, if I recall correctly; 15 years to something, whether it is life or--or another number."

                to know this," she said, because she wants to do the right thing, and she wants to help others also to understand it better, and she said, "Since I can't get an answer, I'll go back to my business," and then I said, "What is your business?," and she said, "I'm a Marin--a juror here in Marin," and I said, "In a murder case?," and she said, "Well, then, I--I can't say that.  I would be discussing it with you."    I said, "Well, I see.  Actually this matter should be brought before the Court, because they can give you the proper answer to your question," and she said that she would then send an inquiry into the Court.  She would then ask for the Judge, she said, to give them a definition of first and second degree murder
                

Digesti was then brought into chambers and questioned by the judge, in counsel's presence. In response to the judge's questions, Digesti admitted that she had spoken to the librarian, and explained her motives and the extent to which she had shared this information with her fellow jurors:

JUROR DIGESTI: [Y]ou know, to make a decision of first and second degree, I didn't know that that was so bad to ask a question. I wanted to ask you about this, because if you say, "Is it first degree," and if I don't know what the penalty maybe [sic]--I'm not supposed to be concerned about this, but I am concerned in my heart that I want to know....

THE COURT: Let me just tell you the law says that you cannot be concerned with that, and we were having a discussion, the two attorneys and myself, just the other day about this kind of a problem, when the jurors are required to make a decision, you know, and not knowing the impact of it, which is what you were concerned about--

JUROR DIGESTI: Yes.

THE COURT:--as you have indicated, and it is a very natural concern, but it is one of the things that the law does not permit, whether it is natural or not, and the law has reasons why it does not permit decisions to be based, or factors to be considered, such a factor of punishment. It is just that you can't consider it.

Could you tell me where you got that information, and what was the amount of the sentence? What information did you get?

JUROR DIGESTI: Yes. What bothers me so badly is if I--if in our discussion, just openly--if in our discussion we decide on first degree murder, in my mind, I read someplace before ever this happened, that first degree involves the death penalty, and the death penalty is still available in California, but it involves 15 years to life. These facts just hit me in the back of the head. I kind of pulled it out for first degree, but I never did remember anything about reading about what second degree--

THE COURT: Did you find out anything?

JUROR DIGESTI: No, nothing different than that.

THE COURT: The only information you disclosed to the jury was the information of 15--

JUROR DIGESTI: I didn't really do that. I asked the question when I went in this morning. I wanted somebody to help me with that, and I couldn't find it, and I said, "Could somebody tell me what the difference is between first and second degree?," and nobody said, and ....

then a little lady in there said she thought 15 years to life, and I had remembered reading that, and I said, "I do remember reading that, but is second degree?," and nobody knew.

THE COURT: [Y]ou were more concerned, then, with finding out what second was?

JUROR DIGESTI: I wanted to know that. Nobody knew. I asked if we could send a note to ask, and they told me, and then I realized, this is bad, because they said, "It is not your concern. You are not to be concerned about that." It is so hard not to be concerned.

THE COURT: We understand it is a very natural response to be concerned. It is just that they are right, the law says you cannot consider that.

Digesti went on to say that there had been no prior discussions among the jurors concerning the possible penalties for different degrees of murder. She also admitted that she had visited the law library once but had not found anything and had not disclosed anything about this event to any of the other jurors.

After Digesti had left the judge's chambers, defense counsel moved for a mistrial based on her misconduct. The judge offered to...