United States v. Mary Josephine Vasquez

Appellant appeals her conviction by a jury for violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001 . Appellant claims numerous errors but the principal issue we determine is whether a fair trial was denied because members of the jury saw during their deliberations the official court file which accidentally had been taken into the jury room. We conclude that this extrinsic prejudicial evidence denied appellant due process of law and reverse.

Appellant was originally indicted in Count I for knowingly and wilfully making false statements to United States customs officials in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001 and in Count II for knowingly transporting $8,850.00 into the United States without filing a report as required by 31 U.S.C. § 1101 (b). During the second day of delib erations, the jury found appellant guilty of violating 18 U.S.C. § 1001 and not guilty of violating 31 U.S.C. § 1101 (b). Just prior to the conclusion of the jury’s deliberations, the trial judge discovered that his law clerk-bailiff had inadvertently left the official file of the court in the jury room for four hours during the first day of deliberations.

The file included all defense motions, proposed defense instructions, a stipulation…