BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 141
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 6, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                 AB 141 (Fuentes) - As Introduced:  January 13, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              JudiciaryVote:  
          10-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          Yes    Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill:

          1)Requires the courts, as part of the admonishment to jurors, to 
            clearly explain the prohibition on communication or research 
            about the case, including the use of electronic or wireless 
            communication, and requires the court officer in charge of the 
            jury to prevent these activities.

          2)Stipulates that violation of the prohibitions in (1) is 
            contempt of court, which is a misdemeanor.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)Negligible costs for the courts statewide to implement the 
            above.

          2)Minor non-reimbursable costs to the counties for prosecution 
            of alleged violations, offset to some extent by fine revenues.

           COMMENTS  


           1)Purpose  .  It is standard procedure for a court to admonish 
            jurors of their duty not to converse with others or conduct 
            independent research until a verdict is rendered.  Recent use 
            of electronic and wireless devices by jurors, however, has 
            caused mistrials, overturned convictions, and court delays.  
            In 2009 a San Francisco Superior Court judge dismissed 600 
            potential jurors after several acknowledged going online to 
            research the criminal case before them.  Additionally, in 2001 








                                                                  AB 141
                                                                  Page  2

            a federal drug trial in Florida ended in a mistrial when eight 
            jurors admitted to conducting internet research on the case 
            they were hearing.


            In response, AB 141 codifies an informal practice among trial 
            courts to authorize the courts to appropriately admonish 
            jurors against the use of electronic and wireless devices to 
            communicate, research, or disseminate information about an 
            ongoing case.  The bill also amends the civil and criminal 
            contempt statutes to grant courts the power to enforce the 
            admonishment.


           2)Prior Legislation  . This bill is identical to the author's AB 
            2217 of 2010, which was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger, who 
            argued that the specified admonishment would be better handled 
            through court rules rather than statute.  The Judicial 
            Council, however, supports this statutory approach, arguing in 
            part that clarifying that violators may be held in contempt 
            would provide the court with necessary enforcement tools.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081