Free Objection - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

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Brett Duke, Texas Bar # 24012559 The Law Offices of Brett Duke, P.C. 4157 Rio Bravo El Paso, Texas 79902 915-875-0003 915-875-0004 (facsimile) [email protected] Attorney for Plaintiff, Cheryl Allred Leon Schydlower, Texas Bar # 00795639 Attorney at Law 210 N. Campbell St. El Paso, Texas 79901 915-532-3601 915-532-2041 (facsimile) [email protected] Attorney for Plaintiff, Cheryl Allred IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF ARIZONA Cheryl Allred NO. CIV 03-2343 PHX-DGC Plaintiff, v. Corrections Corporation of America, Inc., and Bruno Stolc, Defendants. The Plaintiff asks the Court to prohibit the jurors to take notes during the trial PLAINTIFF'S MOTION IN OPPOSITION TO JUROR NOTETAKING

19 of this case. 20 A court should permit jurors to take notes only if it will assist jurors. See U.S. 21 v. MacLean, 578 F.2d 64, 66 (3d Cir. 1978). Note taking should be permitted only 22 when the trial will be long and complex. Id. 23 The issues in this case are simple: whether or not the plaintiff was raped; 24 whether or not the defendants proximately caused the rape; and plaintiff's damages. 25 Because the issues are simple and the trial will be short, juror note-taking will not be 26 beneficial, and the Court should not allow it.

Case 2:03-cv-02343-DGC

Document 155

Filed 01/09/2006

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Although the recent trend is to permit juror note-taking, there are many compelling reasons for not allowing jurors to take notes: a. not all jurors possess the same note-taking abilities; therefore, a skilled note-taker will have a marked advantage in influencing other jurors; b. c. d. a dishonest juror could sway the deliberations by falsifying notes; during deliberations, too much weight may be given to the notes; a juror may be distracted by note-taking and may not pay proper

attention to testimony and witnesses' behavior; e. f. unimportant evidence may be emphasized; and evidence that is recorded in notes may be given greater attention than equally important evidence that is not recorded. The proposed admonishment and the proposed instruction the defendants provided to the Court, specifically sections 1.11 and 4.12 of the Ninth Circuit Model Civil Jury Instructions, will not overcome the possible harm of allowing note-taking. Prayer For these reasons, the Plaintiff asks the Court to prohibit juror note-taking. DATED this 6th day of January, 2006. The Law Offices of Brett Duke, P.C. s/Brett Duke Brett Duke 4157 Rio Bravo El Paso, TExas 79902 Attorney for Plaintiff, Cheryl Allred ORIGINAL/COPY of the foregoing served this 6th day of January, 2006 to: Leon Schydlower Law Office Of Leon Schydlower 210 North Campbell Street El Paso, Texas 79901

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Daniel P. Struck / Rachel Halvorson Jones, Skelton & Hochuli, P.L.C. 2901 N. Central Ave. Suite 800 Phoenix, Arizona 85012 s/Brett Duke

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