Uranga v. State

• Decision Date: 17 November 2010
• Docket Number: No. PD–0385–08.,PD–0385–08.
• Parties: John URANGA, III, Appellant,v.The STATE of Texas.
• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

330 S.W.3d 301

John URANGA, III, Appellant,

v.The STATE of Texas.

No. PD–0385–08.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.

Nov. 17, 2010.

Erika Copeland, Abilene, for appellant.John W. Brasher, Asst. Crim. D.A., Wichita Falls, Jeffrey L. Van Horn, State's Attorney, Austin, for State.WOMACK, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which KELLER, P.J., and JOHNSON, KEASLER, HERVEY, and COCHRAN, JJ., joined.

In this case, the evidence at the punishment stage of the trial revealed that the defendant had damaged a juror's property in a extraneous offense. The issues are (1) whether the doctrine of “implied bias” applies to this case and required a mistrial, and (2) if it did not, whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying a mistrial. We hold that the implied-bias doctrine does not apply and that the trial court did not abuse its discretion.

I. Summary of Facts

A jury found the appellant guilty of felony possession of methamphetamine of more than one gram, but less than four grams. During the punishment phase of the trial (which also was tried to the jury) the State introduced evidence of two prior convictions and a host of unadjudicated offenses, including the incident in question. It took place in September of 2006 when the appellant drove his car onto someone's yard to elude police. This incident was captured in its entirety by the video camera in the police vehicle that was chasing the appellant.

When the State offered the video recording into evidence and played it for the jury, one of the jurors discovered that it was his lawn that had been damaged by the appellant's car. The court questioned the juror outside the presence of the remaining jury regarding the incident and any potential bias that may have existed as a result of the incident.

COURT: ... Yesterday when you watched the video, during the punishment phase, of the car and it went up into somebody's yard and then came back out, my understanding is that you discovered that was your yard?

JUROR: Right, yes.

COURT: And, of course, you had no way of knowing, I don't suppose, that that was going to be a part of this case or that it involved this Defendant?

JUROR: No, I didn't.¹

COURT: So the first time you learned anything about it was when you saw his car pulling up in that yard and pulling back out on that video, right?

JUROR: Right.

COURT: Let me ask you: Have you told anybody else about it?

JUROR: No. Just you.

COURT: Is there anything about that that would affect your decision in this case or that would cause you to lean one way or the other?

JUROR: No, sir.

COURT: Was there anything torn up in your yard that might have made you mad that somebody did—somebody did something to your yard?

JUROR: The ground was moved up a little bit, but I can replace that. I'm not pressing no charges or anything like that.

COURT: Did you see the car come in there, or just saw it— JUROR: No. I just saw it on the tape.

COURT: But as far as your yard, did you know anything had happened when it happened, or did you just see it out there later?

JUROR: In the morning, when I was going to work, I saw it.

COURT: So as far as seeing anything that happened about what car came in there or a policeman chasing somebody, you didn't see anything like that?

JUROR: No. No, sir.

COURT: You had no knowledge about anything happening until the next morning when you go out and see car tracks in your yard?

JUROR: Right.

COURT: And you're telling me that the fact that that car involves this Defendant, allegedly, and was the one that was on that video in your yard, that that would not influence you one way or the other?

JUROR: No, sir.

COURT: You will not hold that against the Defendant in any way?

JUROR: No. No.

COURT: All right. One thing I'm going to say to you is: Do not let it influence you in any way.

JUROR: No, I won't.

COURT: Number two: Do not share that experience with any of the other jury members until after we get through.

* * *

DEFENSE: Your Honor, at this time, I would have to—even with the reassurances that Mr. Richardson has given, I would have to object, that he does have personal knowledge. I don't think it could not affect him in deciding punishment. I mean, his property was damaged. Even though it was just minimal, it was damaged, and I believe it would have to affect him in punishment.

COURT: Mr. [Prosecutor].

STATE: Judge, I think that in this situation the case law is clear that he can stay as a juror. I just said—he told you, eye-to-eye, that he could be fair, and so I think we have to take him at his word.

COURT: So what is it you're suggesting, Mr. [Defense Counsel]?

DEFENSE: Whatever has to be done within the law, Your Honor. If a juror has personal—

COURT: No, my—are you saying you want a mistrial or you want me to excuse him and go with 11? What are you wanting?

DEFENSE: Then we would ask for a mistrial.

COURT: Overruled.

After the questioning, the appellant requested a mistrial based on the recently discovered information. The Court denied the request.

The jury found that the appellant was an habitual felony offender,² and assessed the punishment of life in prison.

On appeal, the appellant argued that he was denied his right to a fair and impartial jury under the Texas Constitution, because he “contends that we should presume harm from the victim-juror's participation in assessing punishment and, therefore, that we should find error from the rejection of the motion for a mistrial.” ³ The Court of Appeals held that since “neither the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals nor the United States Supreme Court has adopted the implied bias doctrine when it is discovered in the middle of a punishment trial that a juror is a victim of the defendant's extraneous (misdemeanor-level) conduct, we shall not follow Uranga's suggestion that such a doctrine must be applied in this case.” ⁴

We granted review.

The appellant argues that the doctrine of “implied bias” must always be applied when it is discovered during the punishment stage that a juror was a victim of the appellant's extraneous, unadjudicated offense. He says that “no admonition could effectively cure the bias of that juror.”

II. Implied Bias

The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the right to a trial by an impartial jury in all criminal prosecutions. Article I, Section 10 of the Texas Constitution similarly guarantees that “[i]n all criminal prosecutions the accused shall have a speedy public trial by an impartial jury.” This Court has held that the right in the state constitution is no greater than that recognized in the Sixth Amendment. ⁵ Neither the federal nor the state constitution has been held to require an “implied bias” doctrine.

The limited case law about “implied bias” stems largely from Justice O'Connor's 1982 concurrence in Smith v. Phillips.⁶ After the trial of Phillips began, one of the jurors submitted an application for employment as an investigator in the District Attorney's Office. Although they had learned of this application, the prosecuting attorneys withheld the information from both the trial court and defense counsel until the trial had concluded and the appellant was found guilty of murder.⁷ The federal District Court granted habeas-corpus relief because of prosecutorial misconduct, and the Court of Appeals affirmed.⁸ The Supreme Court, while “not condon[ing] the conduct of the prosecutors in this case,” held that their “failure to disclose [the juror's] job application, although requiring a post-trial hearing on juror bias, did not deprive respondent of the fair trial guaranteed by the Due Process Clause.” ⁹ The Court adhered to a principle, established in its precedents, that in order to obtain relief, actual (as distinguished from implied) juror bias must be shown.¹⁰ It also held that, while prosecutorial misconduct might be relevant to the juror-bias issue, such misconduct alone would not amount to a due-process violation.¹¹

Justice O'Connor said that she “concur[red] in the Court's opinion, but wr [o]te separately to express [her] view that the opinion does not foreclose the use of ‘implied bias' in appropriate circumstances.” ¹² She stated, “Determining whether a juror is biased or has prejudged a case is difficult, partly because the juror may have an interest in concealing his own bias and partly because the juror may be unaware of it.” ¹³ She gave an illustrative list of examples in which the “implied bias” doctrine may apply, notably referring to “extreme situations that would justify a finding of implied bias. Some examples might include a revelation that the juror is an actual employee of the prosecuting agency, that the juror is a close relative of one of the participants in the trial or the criminal transaction, or that the juror was a witness or somehow involved in the criminal transaction.” ¹⁴

This Court has mentioned Justice O'Connor's “implied bias” doctrine twice, first in 2004 in Franklin v. State¹⁵ and again in 2008 in State v. Morales.¹⁶ Neither case called on us to adopt or reject the doctrine, because neither case turned on the issue of a juror's being disqualified because of bias.

In Franklin, when the victim took the stand, a juror recognized her as a member of the Girl Scout troop of which the juror was a leader. The juror had heard the victim's name during voir-dire examination, but she did not recognize the victim until she saw the child.¹⁷ The juror informed the trial judge of their Scouting relationship. The judge questioned her on her ability to judge the case on only the evidence she heard from the stand; the juror stated that she could do so.¹⁸ The judge refused to allow defense counsel to question the juror. This Court said, “The error at issue here is the trial judge's denial of a mistrial when, after the trial began, [the juror] revealed that she knew the victim. ... So, the issue here is what standard of harm should be applied to the denial of a mistrial based on the juror's withholding of material...