Court overturns Corrine Brown conviction
Says Holy Spirit comment should not have ousted juror
TALLAHASSEE — A divided federal appeals court has overturned the conviction of former Florida U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown on fraud and tax charges, ruling that a juror was improperly removed from her trial because he said the Holy Spirit told him Brown was not guilty.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 7-4 decision, ordered a new trial for Brown, who was convicted in 2017 on 18 felony counts related to an alleged charity scam.
Brown, 74, was a member of the U.S. House from 1993 to 2017 and for part of that time represented some communities in metro Orlando.
The Jacksonville Democrat was convicted on fraud and tax charges related to her role in using contributions to the One Door for Education charity for personal expenses and events.
Brown’s appeal focused on whether U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan was justified in replacing the juror — known as Juror 13 — with an alternate because of the statement about the Holy Spirit.
In Thursday’s majority opinion, appealscourt Chief Judge William Pryor wrote that the record of the case “establishes more than a substantial possibility that Juror No. 13 did not forsake his oath and instead was fulfilling his duty. Corrine Brown was entitled to the unanimous verdict of a jury of ordinary citizens. The removal of Juror No. 13 — a juror who listened for God’s guidance as he sat in judgment of Brown and deliberated over the evidence against her — deprived her of one.”
Pryor wrote that the juror repeatedly assured Corrigan that he was following jury instructions and basing his decision on evidence presented during the trial.
“Jurors may pray for and believe they have received divine guidance as they determine another person’s innocence or guilt, a profound civic duty but a daunting task to say the least,” Pryor wrote in a 48-page opinion.
But Judge Charles Wilson, in a dissenting opinion, wrote that district judges are “best positioned to assess a juror’s capability and willingness to properly deliberate.” Juror 13 was disqualified during deliberations after another juror alerted Corrigan to the Holy Spirit comment.
“The majority casts the district court’s decision as misconstruing religious expression while failing to safeguard the right to a unanimous jury verdict,” Wilson wrote in the dissent. “On this record, I cannot agree. The decision to remove Juror No. 13 was a tough call, and one the district court did not take lightly. But from the district court’s superior vantage point, it was necessary to ensure that a verdict was rendered based on the law and evidence — a principle that is foundational to our system of justice.”