Yesterday, the Supreme Court reversed a death penalty judgment because of jury misconduct, the second time it did so within a month. In yesterday’s decision — People v. Hensley — the court found prejudicial misconduct during the penalty phase of the trial when a juror consulted his pastor during deliberations. A little over three weeks earlier, in People v. Weatherton, the court concluded a juror’s prejudgment of the case had impermissibly infected the guilt phase. Both opinions were unanimous and authored by Justice Corrigan.
The Hensley court distinguished a 10-year-old, 4-3 Supreme Court decision — People v. Danks (2004) 32 Cal.4th 269 — in which the court had affirmed a death judgment despite evidence that two jurors had consulted their pastors. The Daily Journal’s Emily Green reports today [subscription required] that the defense attorney in the Danks case is not happy. Counsel is quoted as saying that the error in Danks was “more egregious” than in Hensley and that, “I’m not minimizing the error [in Hensley], but I think this is complete hypocrisy.” Justices Baxter, Werdegar, and Chin were in the majority in both Hensley and Danks.
According to Green’s article, before Weatherton, the Supreme Court had not reversed a death judgment in two years.
