People v. Barton

Opinion

WOODS (Fred), J.

During the trial of four defendants for the attempted murder of a police officer, a juror committed misconduct by having repeated contact with the uncle of two defendants. After a hearing, the trial court denied new trial motions finding the presumption of prejudice had been rebutted. We affirm the judgments.

Factual and Procedural Background

Because the only issues involve juror misconduct—not insufficiency of the evidence or errant evidentiary rulings—the crime facts may be stated simply. Our perspective favors the judgment. (People v. Barnes (1986) 42 Cal.3d 284,…