Steven Ray LAWSON, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Robert G. BORG, Warden, Respondent-Appellant

Opinion by Judge SCHROEDER; Dissent by Judge TROTT

Robert Borg, warden of the Folsom State Prison, appeals the district court’s judgment granting California state prisoner Steven Ray Lawson’s 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas petition challenging his conviction for first degree murder. Borg argues the grant of ha-beas should be reversed because (1) the district court should not have held an evidentia-ry hearing on Lawson’s juror misconduct claim; (2) any claim of juror bias has not been properly exhausted in the state courts; and (3) any juror misconduct resulted in harmless error. We hold the district court committed no error and affirm its judgment granting habeas relief on the ground that, during jury deliberations, one juror committed serious and prejudicial misconduct when he conveyed to other jurors information received out of court about the defendant’s violent reputation.

BACKGROUND

On June 28, 1984, petitioner-appellee Steven Lawson and a friend, Mark Chandler, drove to the home of Marty Avila, who owed Chandler money. Lawson and Chandler brandished guns at Marty and his wife, Charlcia Avila, when they emerged from their home. In the course of the confrontation, Marty Avila shot…

Dissenting:

For the reasons given by Magistrate Judge Hollows in his thorough Findings and Recommendations dated June 8, 1994, I respectfully believe that the error in this case has not been demonstrated to have had any substantial and injurious effect on the jury’s verdict. Thus, I would reverse the judgment of the district court. Because I cannot improve on Judge Hollows’ excellent analysis, I *614 will simply quote it (without indentation or footnotes) as it pertains to this key issue:

Findings and Recommendations

2. The Scott Information Did Not Have a Substantial and Injurious Effect on the Jury’s Verdict

The court does not understand respondent to dispute the seriousness of the juror misconduct alleged against Scott in the sense that submission of extraneous information on the issues of the case is serious in the abstract — indeed the receipt of extraneous information is constitutional error. Certainly, the facts of Dickson illustrate the potential seriousness of the misconduct here. However, respondent reasonably questions the seriousness of the prejudicial effect of the receipt of the prejudicial information on the jury verdict.

As referenced above, the Ninth Circuit…

60 F.3d 608 95 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 5528 , 95 Daily Journal D.A.R. 9458 Steven Ray LAWSON, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Robert G. BORG, Warden, Respondent-Appellant. No. 95-15062. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted April 11, 1995. Decided July 18, 1995. Thomas Y. Shigemoto, Deputy Atty. Gen., Sacramento, CA, for respondent-appellant. Dennis P. Riordan, Riordan & Rosenthal, San Francisco, CA, for petitioner-appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California Before: TANG, SCHROEDER and TROTT, Circuit Judges. Opinion by Judge SCHROEDER; Dissent by Judge TROTT SCHROEDER, Circuit Judge: 1 Robert Borg, warden of the Folsom State Prison, appeals the district court's judgment granting California state prisoner Steven Ray Lawson's 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254 habeas petition challenging his conviction for first degree murder. Borg argues the grant of habeas should be reversed because (1) the district court should not have held an evidentiary hearing on Lawson's juror misconduct claim; (2) any claim of juror bias has not been properly exhausted in the state courts; and (3) any juror misconduct resulted in harmless error. We…