California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Hernandez, F067543, F069444 (Cal. App. 2017):
Prejudicial jury misconduct is grounds for a new trial. ( 1181.) "When a party seeks a new trial based on juror misconduct, the trial court must determine from admissible evidence whether misconduct occurred and, if it did, whether the misconduct was prejudicial. [Citation.] Prejudice is presumed where there is misconduct. This presumption can be rebutted by a showing no prejudice actually occurred or by a reviewing court's examination of the entire record to determine whether there is a reasonable probability of actual harm to the complaining party. [Citation.]" (People v. Loot (1998) 63 Cal.App.4th 694, 697.) "The moving party bears the burden of establishing juror misconduct. [Citations.]" (Donovan v. Poway Unified School Dist. (2008) 167 Cal.App.4th 567, 625.)
"We review independently the trial court's denial of a new trial motion based on alleged juror misconduct. [Citation.] However, we will '"accept the trial court's credibility determinations and findings on questions of historical fact if supported by substantial evidence."'" (People v. Gamache (2010) 48 Cal.4th 347, 396.)
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