State v. Siegel

• Decision Date: 23 January 1936
• Docket Number: 42699.
• Citation: 264 N.W. 613,221 Iowa 429
• Parties: STATE v. SIEGEL.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

264 N.W. 613

221 Iowa 429

STATE v. SIEGEL.

No. 42699.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

January 23, 1936

Appeal from District Court, Woodbury County; Robert H. Munger Judge.

Defendant was indicted charged with committing murder in the first degree. There was a verdict that defendant was guilty of manslaughter upon which judgment was entered. Defendant has taken this appeal.

Affirmed.

Yeaman & Yeaman, and George Gorder, and Kindig, Faville & Mathews all of Sioux City, for appellant.

Edward L. O'Connor, Atty. Gen., Walter F. Maley, Asst. Atty Gen., and Max E. Duckworth, formerly Co. Atty., and M. E. Rawlings, present Co. Atty., both of Sioux City, for the State.

RICHARDS, Justice.

An indictment was found by the grand jury of Woodbury county charging defendant with first-degree murder of Glenn Cross. The jury found defendant guilty of manslaughter. From judgment upon verdict defendant has taken this appeal.

Defendant filed motion for new trial and assigns as error the overruling of same. In this motion defendant claimed he had not had a fair trial on account of alleged misconduct of the jury and of the bailiffs in charge of the jury and on account of alleged errors of, or abuse of discretion by, the court.

In support of the motion there was a showing by defendant that in the jury room there was talk that the county attorney had evidence that he did not use, and if he had produced it there would have been enough evidence for conviction. There was also a showing that juror Mrs. Ruth Broome stated in the jury room that during the trial of the case, while on a street car, she had overheard a well-dressed man say that at least three of the jurors had been bought; that Mrs. Broome intimated that the jurors voting for acquittal were the three who had been bought; that another juror, Mrs. Schwinn, asked one of the jurors who was voting for acquittal, " How much did you get out of this deal?" and said there was some reason for one of the jurors selling out because he was poor; and that another juror was voting for acquittal because he was working for a certain employer. There is a showing that the juror to whom this question was addressed assembled the jurors and asked if any of them had been bought or bribed and stated heatedly that he had not been and was unwilling to be accused of anything of that sort. The counter showing by the state is that juror Mrs. Broome apologized for her statements and assured Juror Alingh that Mrs. Broome's only purpose in telling him of the occurrence was her belief the whole jury should know about it. There is a showing that the two bailiffs in charge of the jury permitted the jurors to use the telephone when they desired, calling up and conversing with various persons, some of this telephoning being from a booth equipped with a door that closed. The counter showing is an affidavit of one of the bailiffs that he heard the conversation of the jurors telephoning. There was a showing that while the jury was out for meals the women jurors sometimes left the remainder of the jurors and went into stores to make purchases, and that the women jurors at times went to one side and talked to their husbands out of the hearing of the bailiffs and the rest of the jury. There was a showng that after the jury had deliberated for about 67 hours defendant moved the court that the jury be discharged, the motion being overruled; that thereafter, while the jury was out of the jury room for a meal, two of the jurors observed the headlines of a local newspaper stating: " Stick to it says Siegel judge. Defense loses motion to let jury quit task. No reason for disagreement." That what was so read was communicated to the other jurors when they have been in deliberation about 74 hours. There was a showing that on one occasion while the jury was out for meals two of them heard loiterers on the street say that defendant was guilty and there was no reason for disagreement, which occurrence was communicated to the other jurors. There was a showing that during the latter part of the deliberation the jurors were pretty well tired out, one juror to such extent that he lay on a bed with a severe headache and there was difficulty on some occasions in arousing him to vote. There is a showing that the jury remained in deliberation for a period of nearly 90 hours before reaching their verdict.

In considering the showing made, the affidavits of the jurors that their verdict was or was not affected by what happened, have to do with matters that inhered in the verdict and are not to be considered. The question for our determination is whether these happenings and alleged misconduct of the jurors and bailiffs were of such a character as to have probably influenced or prejudiced the jury in the rendition of the verdict. State v. Clark, 210 Iowa 724, 231 N.W. 450. With this rule in mind the remarks of the loiterers on the street do not appear to be of serious import, there being no showing made of any particular or peculiar facts in connection therewith warranting the conclusion that the jury gave weight or credence thereto. The same may be said as to the remarks in the jury room that the county attorney did not introduce all of the evidence, a careful examination of the record indicating that these remarks were not made as the statement of any information the juror claimed to have. The remarks appear to have been argumentative in character and probably so understood by the jury. With reference to the statement and insinuations made by juror Mrs. Broome and the question and statements ascribed by the showing to juror Mrs. Schwinn, little can be said in condonation of such conduct in the jury room. Unfortunate as is such failure of jurors to appreciate their oaths and duties, the real matter before us is whether these statements, questions, and insinuations, were of such a character that in the case at bar they probably influenced or prejudiced the jury in the rendition of its verdict. The defendant's showing is that these things happened after the jury had been deliberating for a considerable period and at a time when only three jurors were voting for acquittal. It is the state's showing that these things happened early in the deliberations of the jury. But, however that may be, the record is clear that for many hours after these happenings no verdict was reached. It would also appear that after one of the jurors had indignantly resented the insinuations, and had called the matter to the attention of all the jury, and Mrs. Broome had offered her apology, there was an end to this manner of misconduct on the part of the two jurors and the matter became a closed incident for the remainder of the deliberation, continuing many hours. So it may be said that the misconduct of the two jurors had at least no immediate observable effect of a coercive character. Had these remarks been of such a nature as to be interpreted by the jurors as a statement on the part of Mrs. Broome that she had knowledge that there was a general rumor in the community that three of the jurors had been bought, the insidious nature and possible influence of the misconduct would be more apparent. But the remarks do not seem to run to that extent, the statement of the juror being merely the description of a chance remark she claimed to have heard on a street car. The indignation expressed by some of the jurors and the subsequent apology would indicate that the remarks of the two jurors had the appearance to the other jurors of being...