Turney v. State

936 P.2d 533, 1997 Alas. LEXIS 46, 1997 WL 155273
CourtAlaska Supreme Court
DecidedApril 4, 1997
DocketS-6932
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 936 P.2d 533 (Turney v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Alaska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Turney v. State, 936 P.2d 533, 1997 Alas. LEXIS 46, 1997 WL 155273 (Ala. 1997).

Opinion

OPINION

EASTAUGH, Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

Frank Turney was charged with jury tampering under AS 11.56.590 and criminal trespass under AS 11.46.330(a)(1), as a result of his activities in and near the State Courthouse in Fairbanks. We here consider whether the jury tampering statute is unconstitutionally overbroad or void for vagueness. We also consider whether Turney could commit a criminal trespass on public property at a time when the property was open to the public. The superior court denied Turney’s motion to dismiss the charges. We granted his petition for hearing to consider these issues. We affirm.

II. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

A. Facts

1. Court premises

On May 9, 1994, the Alaska Court System Area Court Administrator, Ronald Woods, gave Turney a letter concerning his activities in and near the court building. It stated:

Dear Mr. Turney,
You have utilized court property as a public forum. Moreover, the manner in which you have done this is disruptive of court business. Citizens and court staff have complained that you have aggressively accosted them on and immediately adjacent to court property in a manner they found threatening. You have pounded on the building’s walls, windows, and doors. You have shouted, blown whistles, and made animal noises with the intention of *536 attracting or distracting the attention of jurors and other persons in the building.
You are welcome in and upon the court’s premises to peaceably conduct court business or to observe court proceedings. However, court property is a non-public forum. You are prohibited from entering or remaining on court property to engage in protest activities, picketing, or pamphle-teering. You are prohibited from entering or remaining on court property to erect signs on the premises. You are prohibited from making excessive noise that disrupts or interferes with court business.
Court property extends to the street curbs surrounding the courthouse. The sidewalks encircling the courthouse are a traditional public forum, subject only to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions. Accordingly, you may use the sidewalks as a forum.' However, whether on court property or adjacent to it, you are prohibited from impeding access to the building by other persons, either by physical or verbal means, and you are prohibited from making excessive noise which disrupts or interferes with court business.
These prohibitions apply to any individual which [sic] attempts to utilize court property for a purpose other than the conduct of court business.
Should you engage in prohibited activity, you will be subject to arrest and prosecution.
2. Juror contact
On July 14, 1994, a jury was selected at the State Courthouse in Fairbanks in the case of State of Alaska v. Merle Hall. Merle Hall was to be tried under AS 11.61.200(a)(1), which prohibits convicted felons from knowingly possessing a concealable weapon. Frank Turney was then in the courthouse, as he often was, promoting what he argues is his “political point of view on the jury system.” His advocacy included signs, leaflets, discussion, and demonstrations. He also publicized the telephone number of the Fully Informed Jury Association (FIJA). 1 Turney was apparently interested in the Hall case because he was a friend of Hall’s and was also a critic of AS 11.61.200(a)(1), having been convicted in Oregon in 1975 of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The attorney defending Hall, William Sat-terberg, was familiar with Turney and saw him at the courthouse the day of jury selection. Turney was in the courtroom during jury selection. The Assistant District Attorney testified that “Frank pretty much monitored that trial from jury selection through verdict.”
The judge presiding over the Hall trial, Judge Jane Kauvar, instructed the jurors that it was their duty to follow the law. The jurors were given a pamphlet entitled the Alaska Trial Jury Handbook soon after they began their jury service, and were shown an orientation video. “Juror” is statutorily defined to mean “a person who is a member of an impanelled jury or a person who has been drawn or summoned to attend as a prospec-' tive juror.” AS 11.56.900(3).
Turney’s jury tampering charges concerned his contacts with three jurors: Coty, Flood, and Ellis. 2 Turney approached Juror Coty and other jurors while they were near the elevators on the fourth floor of the court building, the floor where the jury was to be selected. From about fifteen feet away, Tur-ney told them to call the 1-800-TEL-JURY number. Some jurors were wearing juror *537 badges that identified them as jurors; jury selection had apparently not yet commenced.
While driving home the next day, Satter-berg saw Turney walking. Satterberg gave him a ride hoping Turney could tell him something about a break-in at Satterberg’s office. During the drive, Turney mentioned that he had gone fishing with “one of the jurors” in the Hall ease. He did not identify the juror or say when the fishing trip had taken place.
The Hall trial was held on Monday, July 18. It lasted about three hours. Jurors Flood, Roit, and Ellis went outside the court building to smoke. At least one was wearing a juror badge. Turney approached them, and told two jurors to call the FIJA telephone number. He said he wanted to know if they knew what their rights as jurors were. Jurors Flood and Roit ignored Turney. The jury began deliberations, but did not reach a verdict.
During deliberations the next day, Juror Ellis told other jurors that he had called the number, 3 and that he was changing his vote. He told them that “I can vote what I want.” He also told them that they should call the number. 4
Satterberg saw Turney outside the courthouse in the late afternoon or evening of July 18. Turney mentioned the status of the jury, and said something that caused Satterberg to comment: “Frank, you know, I don’t want to know about that stuff, it’s something that would be improper.... [I]f you’re telling me that you’ve been talking to any jurors, I’m going to have to report you.... [B]ut, if you’re bullshitting me, then that’s a different story.” Satterberg stated that Turney just smiled, and said “it’s all bullshit.”
Turney called Satterberg that evening concerning the break-in. Satterberg testified that dining one of their July 18 conversations, Turney said something to the effect of “you have a hung jury, and I know how they stand.”

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Bluebook (online)
936 P.2d 533, 1997 Alas. LEXIS 46, 1997 WL 155273, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/turney-v-state-alaska-1997.