People v. Johnson

One SUV rear-ended another SUV that had stopped at a red light. All five occupants of the vehicle that was hit were injured, to varying degrees; one was crippled.

When the police arrived, they found defendant Lionel Fredrick Johnson, Jr., at the scene, blatantly drunk. He admitted that he had been driving and that he hit the other vehicle.

As no eyewitness could identify defendant as the driver, however, defense counsel argued that there was reasonable doubt as to whether defendant was driving. He also argued that defendant’s admissions were not credible because “drunk people say crazy things all the time.”

After the trial, defendant filed a motion for disclosure of the jurors’ identifying information. In support, his parents testified that several jurors had stated that they had concluded only reluctantly that defendant had been driving, partly because he did not take the stand and testify. The trial court denied the motion. In the published portion of this opinion, we will hold that this was error. We will reject the People’s arguments that (1) the jurors’ statements were inadmissible hearsay, (2) the-jurors’ statements were inadmissible under Evidence Code section…