United States v. Shiu Lung Leung

The prohibition on admitting juror testimony to challenge the validity of a verdict is longstanding. Warger v. Shauers, — U.S.-, 135 S.Ct. 521, 526 , 190 L.Ed.2d 422 (2014). It has its roots in an eighteenth-century English case “in which Lord Mansfield held inadmissible an affidavit from two jurors claiming that the jury had decided the case through a game of chance.” Id. In modern jurisprudence, this principle is found in Federal Rule of Evidence 606(b), which is a powerful shield against the efforts of litigants to overturn verdicts based on the real or perceived flaws of the juries that decided their cases. Indeed, the Supreme Court has interpreted the Rule to bar testimony regarding jurors’ drug use, “insanity, inability to understand English, and hearing impairments.” Id. at 530 .

In keeping with these precedents, we hold that Shiu Lung Leung was not entitled to a new trial or evidentiary hearing based on a juror’s affidavit alleging that other jurors discussed the evidence against him and made up their minds about his guilt before the start of deliberations. We decline to embrace Leung’s theory that Rule 606(b) provides leeway for a court to delve into the…