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State v. Mann6/6/2000
991) (quoting NMRA 2000, ยง 11-702). In essence, Juror No. 7 was acting as an expert witness, and it is precisely this "filtering" that I would determine brought extraneous material before the jury. See State v. Steinkraus, 76 N.M. 617, 620, 417 P.2d 431, 432 (1966) (determining that expert testimony is to be considered additional evidence).
The jurors were instructed before opening statements that they were to decide the case based solely on the evidence presented at trial. See UJI 14-101 NMRA 1999. At the conclusion of evidence, they were instructed that it was their duty to determine the facts from the evidence produced in court. See UJI 14-606 NMRA 1999. The jury was properly instructed that it was to consider only the evidence before it and that it was not to consider any extraneous information in reaching a verdict.
Extraneous information has been defined as " ommunication of specific knowledge from a particular juror to others." State v. Sacoman, 107 N.M. 588, 590, 762 P.2d 250, 252 (1988). In Sacoman, our Supreme Court recognized the balance that must be drawn between the jury fairly considering the evidence before it and drawing upon its collective life experiences, on the one hand, and considering facts not before it, on the other.
Most certainly jurors are not precluded from drawing on their wisdom and experience and engaging in a free exchange of ideas and subjective opinions during the course of their deliberations. . . . The point, however, is that such deliberations must take their content from the record facts before them, not from external facts brought into the jury room by a juror and thus not screened through the judicial process. Id. at 591, 762 P.2d at 253 (quoting People v. Huntley, 452 N.Y.S.2d 952, 955 (App. Div. (1982)).
The first inquiry, then, is whether extraneous information reached the jury. See State v. Doe, 101 N.M. 363, 366, 683 P.2d 45, 48 (Ct. App. 1983). If the calculations performed by Juror No. 7 and presented to the jury are not extraneous information, the inquiry is over. In its most general sense, extraneous information consists of facts or evidence not elicited during trial that is communicated to the jury. See Sacoman, 107 N.M. at 590, 762 P.2d at 252. In Sacoman, two jurors provided information to the other jurors concerning procedures relied on by restaurants to pay employees who failed to punch the time clock at the end of their shift. The Court concluded that this constituted extraneous information. Id. at 591, 762 P.2d at 253.
From Sacoman, and the cases on which it relied, I would determine that extraneous information is material that (a) would not otherwise be available to the other jurors because the information was not presented at trial, and (b) the information was available to the juror who disseminated it either as a result of his specialized training or his peculiar experiences. See Sacoman, 107 N.M. at 591, 762 P.2d at 253. Applying these principles to this case, I would examine the information available to the jury at the beginning of deliberations, as well as the information presented to the jury by Juror No. 7.
Defendant's expert, Dr. Alan Watts, testified in depth regarding the mechanics involved when a body falls forward and a screwdriver or other object is dropped on a hard surface. He also testified in more general terms regarding the probability of a screwdriver being knocked on the floor and bouncing up in such a way as to impale a body falling forward.
Juror No. 7, during the trial court's interview, stated that " y issue was I don't think they answered the right question." He then went on to explain in detail what inf
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