Joseph A. Hollahan v. Illinois
Privacy
Does the right to private and secret jury deliberations apply only in the jury room?
QUESTION PRESENTED FOR REVIEW From time to time, deliberating juries must examine evidence in the courtroom that could have been examined in private in the jury room but for obstacles with using the jury room. For example, a jury may need to deliberate in the courtroom (or other suitable room) because (i) the evidence the jury wishes to examine is in the courtroom and is too large to remove to the jury room, or (ii) playback equipment for a recording in evidence is available only in the courtroom, or (ili) the air-conditioning is not working in the jury room, or (iv) the jury room is under repair. A number of federal and state courts have endorsed closing the courtroom for privacy when a jury must deliberate in the courtroom for these reasons. The court below joined other courts that have taken the opposite view in the belief that the right to private jury deliberations applies only in the jury room. These courts permit the presence of non-jurors in the courtroom, and the supervision and restriction of the jury during its examination of the evidence in the courtroom, even if the evidence could have been examined in private in the jury room but for obstacles with using the jury room. The question presented is: Does the right to private and secret jury deliberations apply only in the jury room? i