Can a jury be "straight jacketed" after the trial judge's decision that the jurors did not think or analyze the case properly?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from Ford v. Bennacka, 226 Cal.App.3d 330, 276 Cal.Rptr. 513 (Cal. App. 1990):

5 In Maple v. Cincinnati, Inc., supra, 163 Cal.App.3d at page 394, 209 Cal.Rptr. 451, the appellate court stated: "The trial judge simply made a subjective determination that the jurors didn't think or analyze the case 'correctly,' a determination triggered by statements of a juror who had voted in the minority. [p] If a trial judge believes that the evidence is objectively insufficient as a matter of law to support a verdict, he or she of course has the power under Code of Civil Procedure section 657 to order a new trial on that basis. The trial judge does not, however, have the power to pass judgment on the correctness of the jurors' thought processes involved in weighing the evidence. [p] ... [A]ttempts by judges to straight jacket a jury in its deliberations by an after-the-fact critiquing and criticizing of the language and reasoning used in those deliberations runs directly contrary to our fundamental concept of the jury function."

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