John Gregory Lee v. C. Marshall, Warden Attorney General of the State of California

C. Marshall, Warden of the California State Department of Corrections, and the Attorney General of the State of California appeal the district court’s issuance of the 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus writ for California state prisoner John Gregory Lee, who was convicted in state court of conspiracy to commit murder in 1982. The district court, in Lee v. Marshall, 843 F.Supp. 608 (C.D.Cal.1993), found that the presence of two police officers in the jury room during jury deliberations without knowledge of the trial judge was a “structural defect,” requiring automatic reversal of Lee’s conviction, rather than a “trial error,” which requires a habeas petitioner to show “actual prejudice.” We conclude that the district court’s issuance of the writ was in error and reverse.

I.

In 1982, John Gregory Lee and Joe Valentine were tried on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in violation of California Penal Code §§ 182, 187. During the jury deliberations, two police officers dressed in plain clothes, officers Bumpus and Jacobs, were observed by co-defense counsel exiting the jury room. Neither defendant had consented to the officers’ entry, nor had it been approved by the trial…