The following excerpt is from Henry v. Ryan, D.C. No. 2:02-CV-00656-SRB, No. 09-99007 (9th Cir. 2013):
First, the extraneous information the jury considered was not inherently inflammatory, nor had it already been excluded from trial as unduly prejudicial. Cf. Mancuso v. Olivarez, 292 F.3d 939, 953 (9th Cir. 2002) ("Juror misconduct cases in which habeas relief has been granted often involve the jury's receipt of information excluded from trial as unduly prejudicial such as evidence of the facts surrounding a defendant's prior conviction, bad reputation, or propensity to violate the law."); Sassounian, 230 F.3d at 1104, 1112 (reversing a special circumstance jury verdict where it was reached after the jury improperly considered evidence that had not been presented at trial because it had been ruled inadmissible); Rodriguez v Marshall, 125 F.3d 739, 744 (9th
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Cir. 1997) ("We have granted a new trial where the jury receives extraneous information that is ordinarily excluded from trial as inflammatory or unduly prejudicial."), overruled on other grounds by Payton v. Woodford, 299 F.3d 815, 828-29 & n.11 (9th Cir. 2002) (en banc).
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