Reynolds v. City of Birmingham
Decision Date | 02 October 1998 |
Citation | 723 So.2d 822 |
Parties | Charles Terry REYNOLDS v. CITY OF BIRMINGHAM. |
Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
Rhonda Steadman Hood, Birmingham, for appellant.
Demetrius C. Newton, city atty., and Michael M. Fliegel, asst. city atty., City of Birmingham, for appellee.
The appellant, Charles Terry Reynolds, appeals from his conviction for public intoxication, a violation of § 11-6-12, Birmingham City Code, and his conviction for disorderly conduct, a violation of § 11-6-8, Birmingham City Code. He was fined $475 on the public intoxication conviction and $125 on the disorderly conduct conviction.
The evidence presented by the City tended to show the following: On June 15, 1996, the appellant was arrested while attending City Stages, an annual music festival held in downtown Birmingham. The arrest occurred in Linn Park, located between the Jefferson County Courthouse and Birmingham City Hall. Two members of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, Lt. Michael Lee and Sgt. Mike Ozley, testified that they were standing on an elevated marble wall in Linn Park monitoring the crowd. Both officers testified that they watched the appellant for approximately 30 minutes before his arrest and that during that time they witnessed his involvement in an altercation with other individuals. They testified that the appellant was directly in their view and had not been, as the appellant argues, knocked unconscious. Birmingham police officers, Ralph Patterson, Lilly Taylor, Henry Lucas, Marie Hardy, and Marquita Payne, testified that they responded to a radio report of a fight at the fountain in the park. Upon arrival, they saw the appellant pushing people and swearing at the crowd. Testimony was presented that the appellant smelled of alcohol, that his eyes were bloodshot, and that his speech was slurred. Attempts to subdue the appellant were unsuccessful, and he was arrested. In his defense, the appellant argued that he had been knocked unconscious by an unknown assailant shortly before he was arrested, and that he was therefore disoriented when he shouted profanities at the crowd and fought with police officers.
The appellant contends that he is entitled to a new trial because of alleged juror misconduct. Specifically, he argues that he was denied a fair and impartial trial when a juror visited the scene of the altercation and introduced extraneous information during the jury's deliberation.
The record indicates the appellant's trial counsel filed a motion for a new trial based upon the affidavits of three jurors to the effect that, before the jury began its deliberations, one of the jurors visited the scene of the arrest during her lunch hour "to determine the deputies' views during the incident." The affidavits indicated that during deliberations the juror stated that "it was her opinion basedon her observations that the Jefferson County deputies could see the area where Mr. Reynolds was arrested, and that, therefore, the testimony of the Jefferson County deputies was credible, and in their positions they would have seen it if Mr. Reynolds had been hit in the head by someone in the crowd." In response to the motion, counsel for the City also obtained affidavits from the same jurors, in addition to an alternate juror and the juror who had visited the scene. In those affidavits, the jurors indicated that they had based their verdicts on the testimony of the City's witnesses, which they found more credible than that of the appellant's witnesses. One of the juror affidavits stated that "[n]o one juror swayed the opinions of the jury." The affidavit further stated that her opinion was based on the testimony of the witnesses and that she "felt that the testimony of the Jefferson County sheriff's deputies was the most credible evidence." The affidavit of the second juror stated that The affidavit of the third juror stated that The last affidavit submitted by the State was that of the juror who had visited the scene. She stated that her "opinion [that the Defendant was guilty] was based on the testimony of the witnesses, and not on [her] visit to Linn Park."
Additionally, the record indicates that during the hearing on the motion for a new trial, the City argued that because the area where the arrest took place was shown to the jury through the photographs placed into evidence by the appellant's counsel, the juror's visit to the arrest scene amounted to harmless error. The record does not support the City's argument, however. The record reveals that the photograph, marked as "Defendant's Exhibit 2," showed the area where the appellant was standing at the time of his arrest, not where the deputies were standing during the altercation.
The trial court's order stated, in pertinent part:
Here, there is no question that the juror's actions constituted juror misconduct. It is fundamental to a fair trial that jurors should consider only the evidence presented at trial. Therefore, jurors are prohibited from conducting independent investigations into any issue that arises during the trial of a case. Where juror misconduct has occurred, the question becomes whether the misconduct warrants a new trial. See Hall v. State, 348 So.2d 870, 875 (Ala.Cr.App.1977) ().
Ex parte Lasley, 505 So.2d 1263, 1264 (Ala. 1987) (emphasis added in Lasley).
To continue reading
Request your trial-
Dunaway v. State
...influenced the verdict rendered, we find that the juror's action does not warrant a new trial’); see also Reynolds v. City of Birmingham, 723 So.2d 822, 826 (Ala.Crim.App.1998) (finding that juror misconduct did not warrant a new trial because ‘[t]he jurors in the present case all stated th......
-
Jackson v. State
...on other grounds, Ex parte Jenkins, 972 So. 2d 159 (Ala. 2005))."Bryant v. State, __ So. 3d at __. See also Reynolds v. City of Birmingham, 723 So. 2d 822 (Ala. Crim. App. 1998); Dawson v. State, 710 So. 2d 472 (Ala. 1997); Ex parte Potter, 661 So. 2d 260 (Ala. 1994)."The form of prejudice ......
-
Jackson v. State
...on other grounds, Ex parte Jenkins, 972 So.2d 159 (Ala.2005)).”Bryant v. State, ––– So.3d at ––––.See also Reynolds v. City of Birmingham, 723 So.2d 822 (Ala.Crim.App.1998); Dawson v. State, 710 So.2d 472 (Ala.1997); Ex parte Potter, 661 So.2d 260 (Ala.1994). “The form of prejudice that wou......
-
Smith v. State
...thoroughly investigated the incident and determined that Smith had suffered no prejudice. As we stated in Reynolds v. City of Birmingham, 723 So.2d 822, 825-26 (Ala. Crim.App.1998): "In Minshew v. State, 594 So.2d 703, 716 (Ala.Cr.App.1991), this Court "`"Juror misconduct will justify a new......