Bowman v. State
Annotate this CaseAfter a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of one count of trafficking in a controlled substance. Defendant moved to declare a mistrial and order a new trial due to juror misconduct, arguing that there was a reasonable probability that the verdict was affected by independent experiments conducted by two jurors to test theories of the case advanced at trial. The district court denied Defendant’s motion for a new trial. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) the district court erred by denying Defendant’s motion for a new trial because the independent experiments conducted by the jurors constituted prejudicial misconduct; and (2) the district court committed plain error by failing to provide a jury instruction admonishing jurors against conducting independent research, investigations, and experiments.
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