Jurors Watched Movie During Death Penalty Deliberations.

In a death penalty writ of habeas corpus, the California Supreme Court considered the declaration of a juror which stated: “I told the holdout jurors that if they wanted to understand what it was like in prison, they should watch the movie American Me. That is based on a true story. [¶] Two of the jurors rented the movie and watched it over the weekend. They finally understood that Mr. Boyette could kill again in prison if he was not sentenced to death. After they watched the movie, they changed their votes to death.” The high court denied relief, noting: “Although the movie may have been consistent with the prosecutor’s argument that someone like petitioner could continue his violent life of crime in prison, the record shows the movie did not introduce any new facts or ideas into the jury room. A number of jurors had seen the movie before the trial and had argued at length during deliberations that petitioner would join a gang in prison and continue to commit crimes. That the information contained in the movie was already before the jury diminishes the potential prejudicial impact of the misconduct despite its consistency with the prosecutor’s closing argument.” In re Boyette  (Cal. Sup. Ct.; May 30, 2013) 56 Cal.4th 866, [301 P.3d 530].