State v. Webster, 13–1095.

• Decision Date: 19 June 2015
• Docket Number: No. 13–1095.,13–1095.
• Citation: 865 N.W.2d 223
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Tyler James WEBSTER, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

865 N.W.2d 223

STATE of Iowa, Appellee

v.Tyler James WEBSTER, Appellant.

No. 13–1095.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

June 19, 2015.

Mark C. Smith, State Appellate Defender, and Rachel C. Regenold, Assistant Appellate Defender, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Kevin Cmelik, Denise A. Timmins, and Heather Ann Mapes, Assistant Attorneys General, and Timothy W. Dille, County Attorney, for appellee.

Alan R. Ostergren, Muscatine, for amicus curiae Iowa County Attorneys Association.

Opinion

APPEL, Justice.

Tyler Webster shot and killed Buddy Frisbie. The State charged Webster with first-degree murder. A jury returned a guilty verdict of second-degree murder. Webster filed a posttrial motion seeking to vacate the conviction on grounds of juror misconduct. Webster also challenged several evidentiary rulings in which the district court refused to admit evidence that reflected poorly on Frisbie. The district court denied Webster's posttrial motion and entered judgment. Webster appealed.

On appeal, Webster claimed his conviction should be vacated because of juror misconduct and juror bias. Specifically, Webster claimed a juror failed to disclose that her daughter was a good friend of Frisbie's stepsister. Webster further claimed the same juror engaged in discussions about the case with third parties, posted comments on Facebook, and “liked” a comment posted by Frisbie's stepmother on Facebook related to the trial. Webster also appealed the judgment based upon assorted errors in the district court's evidentiary rulings.

We transferred the case to the court of appeals. The court of appeals held there was no reversible juror misconduct, but reversed Webster's conviction on the issue of juror bias. We granted further review. For the reasons expressed below, we vacate the decision of the court of appeals and affirm the judgment of the district court.

I. Factual Background and Proceedings.

A. Factual Overview. Webster and Frisbie were long-time friends. On August 25, 2012, Webster, Frisbie, a mutual friend Doug Knight, and Frisbie's girlfriend Shelby Hall attended a party together. They decided to go fishing. Frisbie and Hall went to Frisbie's trailer to retrieve fishing gear, and Webster joined them in the trailer as it began to rain. Knight went to his own trailer nearby.

In Frisbie's trailer, Webster claimed he believed Frisbie was sexually assaulting Hall. He left the trailer, went to his truck, grabbed a gun, came back to the trailer, and shot Frisbie in the face at close range to avoid hitting Hall, whose body partially covered Frisbie.

Hall ran to Knight's trailer and explained what had just happened. Knight retrieved a shotgun, and when Webster approached the trailer with a gun in his hand, Knight told him to put the gun down. Webster complied and Knight called 911. Webster admitted to the dispatcher that he had just shot Frisbie. Dispatch instructed Webster to walk to the end of the driveway, lie on his stomach, and wait for law enforcement to arrive. Law enforcement arrived and arrested Webster without incident.

The State charged Webster with first-degree murder. Prior to the start of trial, the court ruled on motions in limine. Jury selection was not reported. During the week-long trial, the court reminded the jury of its “long admonition” previously given. The long admonition, however, is not part of the record. The first admonition found in the record occurred before the noon recess during the first day of trial. This admonition stated:

And so at this time I will again remind you of that long admonition that I previously read to you about you don't talk between yourselves, you don't talk with anyone else, you don't listen or read any news reports. This matter is not yet submitted so you don't communicate with anyone or each other about what you have heard so far, and you keep an open mind and you don't come to any conclusions.

The court gave a similar rendition of this admonition numerous times throughout the trial.

B. In Camera Examination of the Juror. After the defense rested, and outside the presence of the jury, the district court alerted the parties to an issue that had arisen in the case. The district court told the parties that the clerk of court and the court attendant had advised the court they had received information that one of the jurors had stated prior to being seated that she would probably never be picked for the jury because “she knew the family.” The district court stated the court attendant was concerned because she had sat through voir dire and did not recall the juror saying anything about her connection to either family.

The court then conducted an in camera hearing and the juror was questioned. The juror told the court that her twenty-seven-year-old daughter was friends with Frisbie's half-sister or stepsister as they had attended high school together. The juror stated she did not know Frisbie, and other than telling her daughter she had jury duty, she did not discuss the case with her. She also stated she was friendly with Frisbie's parents, as they worked in the courthouse and she also worked in the courthouse. She also noted she thought she knew a family member of Webster's wife. Webster's attorney noted the juror's familiarity with these individuals commenting, “I understand this is a small town.” When asked if the relationships would cause her to be biased, the juror stated she would not be biased and would rely upon her notes in making her decision.

The juror further stated she was a Facebook¹ user and knew about the shooting the night of the incident through Facebook. She stated that while she had been on Facebook during the trial playing games, she had “not read anybody else's postings, because [she] kn[ew] if they posted something [she] didn't want to know about it.” At the conclusion of the in camera examination of the juror, the defense declined to challenge the juror for cause.

C. Submission of the Case and the Verdict. The next day, the parties completed closing arguments and the case was submitted to the jury. In its jury instructions, the district court stated, in relevant part:

You may not communicate about this case before reaching your verdict. This includes cell phones, and electronic media such as text messages, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, email, etc. Do not do any research or make any investigation about this case on your own. Also, do not research any information about this case, the law, or the people involved, including the parties, the witnesses, the lawyers, or the judge. This includes using the Internet to research events or people referenced at trial.

After being instructed, the jury deliberated and returned a verdict finding Webster guilty of murder in the second degree in violation of Iowa Code sections 707.1 and 707.3 (2013).

D. Posttrial Motion. After the verdict, Webster filed a combined motion for new trial and arrest of judgment. Webster asserted that subsequent to the verdict Karen Taylor, a convenience store employee, told the defense that during the course of trial she observed the same juror in the store talking about the trial with two or three other customers. In addition, Webster also asserted the defense received information from Sheila Ross, who employed the defendant's mother as a housekeeper. Ross recalled a conversation she had with the juror a few days after the verdict in which the juror told her that she looked up Knight's age and that he was not as “old” as defense counsel had contended. Ross further indicated the juror informed her that the juror's daughter regarded Frisbie as “the sweetest nicest most soft spoken good guy” and regarded Webster as “loud mouth verbally aggressive and generally not a good person.” Ross also stated the juror told her that “no one asked [the juror] to recuse herself for knowing the Frisbie family so she just kept her mouth shut and did not offer that up.”

In addition, Webster contended the district court denied him a fair trial by prohibiting him from introducing evidence that Frisbie's ex-wife was nine months pregnant when Frisbie punched her in the stomach and by prohibiting Webster from introducing evidence of Frisbie's felon status and “prison mentality.” Webster claimed this information was essential to his defense of justification because it would put his actions in context.

The district court held a hearing on Webster's combined motion. Taylor was the first witness to testify. She stated during the course of the trial she heard the juror discuss the case at a convenience store where she worked. Taylor testified she heard a customer state, “[E]veryone knows he's guilty,” and the juror responded “Yeah.” Taylor also testified the juror told her that Webster “had plead not guilty ... and [the jury had] to decide guilt or innocence.”

Ross testified next. She did not know the juror personally but became familiar with her when she attended jury selection and the trial. Webster's mother had been Ross's housekeeper and Ross considered Webster's mother a friend. Ross testified that after trial she heard the juror in a Hy-Vee store “loudly proclaiming about the trial and the results of the trial ... and [that] he deserved what he got.” Ross further testified the juror indicated that Webster could have gotten help from Knight because Knight was not an old man, as she had “looked up his age.” Ross further testified the juror told her that the juror's daughter “knew both [Webster and Frisbie] when they were young, and that [Frisbie] was just this kind, sweet, gentle, polite person” and Webster “was a mouthy, aggressive ... verbally—you know, aggressive person.” When Ross asked the juror why she did not recuse herself like another potential juror did when that juror told the lawyers that the juror knew the Webster and Frisbie families, the juror responded “[T]hey did not ask me, so I didn't tell them.” When Ross inquired if the lawyers had asked whether anyone knew the Frisbie family, the juror replied “nope,”...