Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Katherine Corrick y Marc Rosenberg Trial by jury: the canadien experience • Terry Skolnik
The jury system in Canadá • Carla Pandolfi Comentarios sobre el sistema canadiense • Ramiro
Orias Arredondo Jueces ciudadanos: democratizando la justicia en Bolivia • Andrés Harfuch La
nueva Ley de Juicio por Jurados, de la provincia de Neuquén, Argentina • Norman Garland An essay
on: Of Judges and Juries revisited in the context of certain preliminary fact questions determining the
admissibility of evidence under federal and California rules of evidence • Gustavo Letner El juicio por
jurados en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires • DEBATE Reinaldo Imaña y Leonardo Moreno • Entrevista a
Andrés Harfuch • Marcelo Nieto Di Biase Algunas apostillas sobre la oralidad. Una mirada positiva
Sistemas Judiciales
Directores
Cristián Riego
Comité Editorial
Christina Biebesheimer
Rafael Blanco
Carlos Cordovez
Alfredo Fuentes
Linn Hammergren
Luis Pásara
Hernando París
Carlos Peña
Silvina Ramírez
2 DEBATE............................................................................................................................................. 61
Reinaldo Imaña
Leonardo Moreno
2 NOTAS GENERALES
Marcelo Nieto Di Biase
Algunas apostillas sobre la oralidad. Una mirada positiva................................................................68
[ Las opiniones vertidas en la revista son de responsabilidad de sus autores y no de las instituciones que la editan. ]
Directores
Alberto Binder CEJA
Cristián Riego Rodo 1950, Providencia,
Santiago de Chile,
Coordinadores temáticos Tel: +56 (2) 2742933
Ricardo Lillo Fax: +56 (2) 3415769
Jorge Boerr E mail: info@cejamericas.org
Página web: www.cejamericas.org
Equipo editorial
Andrea Cabezón
Francisco Godinez Galay INECIP
Inés Binder Talcahuano 256, 1º piso (C1013AAF)
Leticia Lorenzo Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina,
Tel/Fax: (00-54) 1143720570,
Diseño gráfico E–mail: inecip@inecip.org
Patricia Peralta Página web: www.inecip.org
3
Revista Sistemas Judiciales N° 17
L
a discusión sobre la implementación, fun- razón por la cual se encontrará con dos artículos
cionamiento y utilidad de los sistemas de canadienses que explican el funcionamiento del sis-
enjuiciamiento por jurados no es nueva; tema de jurados en aquel país, haciendo una descrip-
prueba de ello la cita que acompaña a este texto, ción del mismo y analizando críticamente los pros y
que ha sido seleccionada de muchas otras posibles los contras de dicha forma de enjuiciamiento. Tam-
de pensadores desde las épocas de la Ilustración bién se publica un artículo estadounidense, referido
hasta los días presentes. a una cuestión más concreta y compleja vinculada al
enjuiciamiento, cual es la admisión de la prueba. En
Los sistemas judiciales latinoamericanos viven adición, hemos querido también aportar la mirada la-
momentos de intensos cambios. Las nuevas Consti- tinoamericana sobre esos sistemas de larga tradición,
tuciones del continente se han interesado particular- por lo que incorporamos un artículo específico es-
mente por los temas judiciales incorporando desde la crito por una abogada argentina sobre su experiencia
oralidad como principio rector de los procedimientos en la observación del funcionamiento del jurado en
hasta, en casos como el boliviano, la elección popular Canadá.
de los integrantes de los altos tribunales de justicia.
De otra parte, sabemos que no son pocas las ex-
A la vez, el debate sobre cómo debe ser la admi- periencias latinoamericanas en implementación de
nistración de justicia, cómo debe integrarse, proce- distintos tipos de sistemas de jurados. Por ello este
der, rendir cuentas, relacionarse con los otros Pode- número contiene un artículo sobre la experiencia
res del Estado y abrirse a la ciudadanía, está presente boliviana en la integración de tribunales ciudadanos
en la agenda de nuestros países en la actualidad. compuestos por jueces técnicos y jueces ciudadanos
(sistema escabino), que viene funcionando en aquel
De allí el interés que hemos puesto en que esta país desde 2001 hasta la actualidad; este artículo
edición de la revista Sistemas Judiciales se refiera a la marca tanto los aspectos positivos que ha tenido
incorporación de los jurados a los procedimientos de la experiencia como las cuestiones que continúan
juzgamiento judicial. siendo problemáticas hasta la actualidad. La sección
principal se integra también con un artículo referido
Para ello, hemos procurado de una parte proveer a la reciente aprobación del sistema de jurados clásico
al lector con algunos artículos provenientes de la tra- en la provincia de Neuquén, en la Patagonia argenti-
dición juradista más longeva de nuestro continente, na; si bien en este caso se trata de un sistema que aún
4
Juicio por Jurados
5
JUICIO POR JURADOS
Trial by Jury:
The Canadian experience
6
Katherine Corrick / Marc Rosenberg
and civil, are tried by judges without juries. To summon people for jury duty, the sher-
This paper deals only with jury trials held in iff, who is a court official, sends a notice by
criminal cases. ordinary mail to the people on the jury roll.
Those people attend at the courthouse on
Trial by jury is a benefit available to a person a specified date. These people form what is
accused of committing an indictable offence known as the jury panel. The prosecutor and
that is punishable by five years or more in pris- the defence counsel are both provided with a
on. Indictable offences in Canada are generally list of the people on the jury panel. The list in-
more serious offences. This means that trial by cludes the name, place of residence and occu-
jury is not imposed upon an accused person. pation of each person on the jury panel.
Rather, a person accused of certain offences
may choose to be tried by a jury, but is not re- Twelve jurors must be selected from the
quired to do so. An accused person charged jury panel to hear a criminal case. During the
with an indictable offence can choose to be selection process, the prosecutor and the ac-
tried by a judge alone, or by a judge and jury. cused have the right to “challenge” or reject
any potential juror. The number of jurors they
For less serious indictable offences and can challenge varies depending on the seri-
summary conviction offences, the accused ousness of the offence with which the accused
person does not have a choice; the accused person is charged. They may be permitted to
is simply tried by judge alone. On the other challenge as few as four potential jurors, or as
hand, some of the most serious indictable of- many as twenty. The prosecutor and accused
fences, including murder and treason, are al- have an equal number of challenges. This type
most always tried by a judge and jury.3 of challenge is known as a “peremptory chal-
lenge” because no reason has to be provided
How is a jury selected? for challenging or rejecting the potential juror.
The process of jury selection begins with the Peremptory challenges are distinct from an-
jury roll, a list of citizens who reside within the other kind of challenge that the prosecutor or
territorial district of the court who are eligible defence can make to a potential juror –a chal-
to perform jury duty. Every Canadian province lenge for cause. The prosecutor and accused
has legislation that sets out who is eligible to be can challenge an unlimited number of poten-
a juror, and the process for producing the jury tial jurors for cause, but they must provide a
roll. In Ontario, this legislation is the Juries Act. sound reason for believing that the potential
Jurors must be Canadian citizens, be at least 18 juror should be rejected. The most common
years of age, and reside in the province where challenges for cause relate to cases in which
the court is located. Certain people are not eli- there has been extensive pre-trial publicity that
gible to be jurors because of their occupation. may have prejudiced potential jurors against
For example, judges and lawyers cannot serve the accused, and to cases in which the accused
on juries. Neither can prison guards nor police person is from a racial minority and there is a
officers. Also, a person with a criminal record concern that potential jurors may discriminate
for an indictable offence cannot be a juror. against the accused person for that reason.
7
JUICIO POR JURADOS
challenged. The trial judge must approve the calls evidence during the trial, the prosecutor
questions before they are asked. addresses the jury last. If the accused calls no
evidence during the trial, the defence counsel
Twelve jurors hear a criminal trial. They addresses the jury last.
are chosen from the jury panel according to
the following process: There are certain features of jury trials that
• The jury panel is assembled in a courtroom distinguish them from trials before a judge
along with the accused, defence counsel, alone. For example, the jury must hear all of
the prosecutor, court staff and the trial the evidence at trial, but the trial judge alone
judge. must consider questions about the admissibil-
• The names of all members of the jury panel ity of evidence. Some questions of admissibil-
are placed in a box. The court staff draws ity are determined by the trial judge before
the names of potential jurors from the box. the jury is selected. However, questions about
As each name is called, the potential juror admissibility may arise during the trial. This
from the jury panel comes to the front of requires the jury to leave the courtroom and
the courtroom. wait in the jury room while the trial judge de-
• If the jury panel is not being challenged termines the admissibility of the evidence. To
for cause, the prosecutor and the accused determine the admissibility of evidence, the
alternate turns indicating whether they trial judge may hear witnesses, and will hear
“challenge” the potential juror or are “con- the arguments of the prosecutor and the ac-
tent” with the potential juror. cused. The jury cannot hear any of that. If the
• If either the prosecutor or the accused trial judge rules that the contested evidence is
“challenges” the potential juror, the juror not admissible, the jury will never hear it. If
is excused and rejoins the rest of the jury the trial judge rules the evidence admissible,
panel. That potential juror is eligible to be the evidence will be presented once the jury
selected as a juror in another case. returns to the courtroom.
• If both the prosecutor and accused are
content with the potential juror, the juror is Another distinguishing feature involves the
sworn or affirmed as a member of the jury. jury charge. At the end of the trial, after all of
The steps are repeated until twelve jurors the evidence has been heard and the prosecutor
have been selected. and the accused have addressed the jury, the tri-
al judge then “charges” the jury. The jury charge
How does a jury trial proceed? consists of the judge’s instructions to the jury
about the law that applies to the case being tried.
Once the jury is selected, the charge is read
to the accused, who is asked to plead guilty or Jury verdicts in criminal trials must be
not guilty. The trial judge will briefly instruct unanimous. All twelve jurors must agree on the
the jury about issues such as their duties, and verdict. Once the trial judge charges the jury,
the way the trial will proceed. The prosecu- jurors deliberate until they reach agreement. If
tor makes an opening statement to the jury, the jurors cannot agree after an extended peri-
and then calls witnesses to prove the charge od of deliberation, the trial judge may declare a
against the accused. Once the prosecutor’s mistrial and a new trial may be ordered. The ju-
case is finished, the defence counsel may ry’s decision-making process is secret and can-
make an opening statement to the jury and not be discussed with anyone outside of the jury
call witnesses. After the evidence is finished, room, even after the jury delivers its verdict. It
the prosecutor and the defence counsel make is a criminal offence for anyone to disclose any
closing statements to the jury. If the accused information about a jury’s deliberations.
8
Katherine Corrick / Marc Rosenberg
During a jury trial, the prosecutor and de- certain evidence as long as it is clear to jurors
fence counsel must be particularly alert about that the question of weight is theirs alone to
what they say before the jury. In opening and decide. On the other hand, the trial judge may
closing statements, they must not make state- say nothing about the weight that should be
ments that are not supported by the evidence assigned. The jury charge must make clear to
or are unduly inflammatory. They must not the jury which party has the onus of proof and
refer to facts that are not admitted in evi- what burden of proof applies. Depending on
dence, or express a personal opinion about the the evidence heard during the trial, the trial
credibility of a witness. They can only refer judge may be required to give jurors special
to the law to the extent that it is necessary to instructions about things such as the use they
adequately explain the facts. It is for the trial can make of expert evidence, the testimony of
judge to explain the law to the jurors. disreputable witnesses, or evidence that jurors
mistakenly heard that they should not have.
How does the jury know what law to
apply? As the complexity of criminal trials has
increased, so too has the complexity of jury
The trial judge is responsible for determin- charges. This has led to many trial judges pro-
ing what law applies to the case and explain- viding jurors with written copies of their jury
ing it to the jury in the jury charge. The jury charges to take into the jury room with them
charge is fundamentally important to enable while they deliberate.
jurors to properly carry out their fact-finding
functions and arrive at a proper verdict. Jurors How does an appeal court review a jury
must follow all of the instructions the trial verdict?
judge gives them about the law. If required
during their deliberations, jurors can ask the It is particularly difficult to assess the rea-
trial judge to clarify any questions they have sonableness of a verdict following a jury trial.
about the law. Generally, the jurors will put In Canada, jurors cannot tell anyone about the
their question in writing and a member of the decision-making process they followed in the
court staff will deliver it to the trial judge. The jury room. No reasons or explanations for a
trial judge will then inform the prosecutor and jury verdict are permitted. This decision-mak-
the accused about the question and hear their ing model makes appellate review following a
submissions about the appropriate response. jury trial quite different from a trial by judge
The jury will return to the courtroom and the alone. In a judge alone trial, the focus of the
trial judge will answer the question. The trial appeal tends to be the trial judge’s reasons for
judge must always deal with the jury in open decision. Appellate review of jury trials tends
court in the presence of the accused person. to focus on the trial judge’s decisions about the
admissibility of evidence and the adequacy and
Every jury charge is different. It will correctness of the trial judge’s instructions to
vary according to the offence the accused is the jury in the charge. It is well accepted that
charged with, the type of evidence heard at a jury charge must be examined as a whole to
the trial, and the style of the individual trial determine if there has been any error. It ought
judge. There is no single recipe for a perfect not to be dissected piece by piece. Instead, the
jury charge. The trial judge may review all of appellate court will consider the overall effect
the evidence for the jury, or only those pieces and general sense conveyed by the charge. Es-
of evidence that relate to the law the jurors sentially, the question on an appeal is whether,
must apply. The trial judge may express an in all likelihood, the jury correctly understood
opinion on the weight jurors ought to give the law as it applied to the circumstances of
9
JUICIO POR JURADOS
the case. Exceptionally, the appeal court may presence of the jury. If it is ruled inadmissible,
set aside a conviction by a jury on the basis the jury will never hear it.
that the verdict was unreasonable. However,
this is extremely rare. Voir dires can be lengthy and complex or
short and fairly simple. The trial judge may be
PART 2: EVIDENTIARY RULES able to deliver a ruling on admissibility from
SHAPED BY JURY TRIALS the bench or may require time to consider the
matter. The outcome of a voir dire can deter-
The involvement of juries in the criminal mine the outcome of the trial. For example, if
trial process has helped to shape many of Can- the prosecutor’s case depends on the accused’s
ada’s rules of evidence. In this part, we explore confession, and the confession is ruled inad-
three examples that demonstrate the influence missible, the prosecutor is not likely to con-
of juries on the rules of evidence. But first, it is tinue with the trial if there is no reasonable
important to understand the procedure used prospect of obtaining a conviction.
to determine the admissibility of evidence in a
jury trial. This process is known as a voir dire. Three types of evidence provide excellent
examples of the way in which jury trials have
What is a voir dire? shaped the law of evidence – similar fact evi-
dence, evidence of the accused’s prior convic-
The easiest way to think of a voir dire is to tions, and statements of the accused.
imagine a mini-trial before the trial judge alone
within the larger trial before the jury. The voir Similar Fact Evidence
dire takes place in the absence of the jury. Typi-
cally, the prosecutor or defence counsel will in- The Supreme Court of Canada has held
form the trial judge, in the absence of the jury, that evidence of an accused person’s general
that there is evidence they wish to present to bad character is inherently prejudicial and
the jury that is objected to by the other side. In presumptively inadmissible.4 The fear is that
those circumstances, the trial judge must rule if jurors hear this type of evidence they may
on the admissibility of the evidence before the convict the accused on the basis that the ac-
jury can hear it. Often, this will take place be- cused is “the type of person” who would com-
fore the jury is even selected. This is the most mit the crime. There is also a fear that jurors
efficient method of proceeding. The trial judge might give too much weight to the other ex-
rules on the admissibility of contested evidence amples of the accused’s misconduct and use
before the trial begins. This allows the prosecu- them as proof that the accused committed the
tor and defence counsel to know whether they crime in question, and fail to adequately con-
can mention the evidence in their opening ad- sider the other evidence in the case. The risk
dresses to the jury. It also makes the trial run of a wrongful conviction greatly increases if
more smoothly because there are fewer disrup- jurors draw an inference of guilt from an ac-
tions requiring the jury to be excused to the cused person’s bad character.
jury room. If an evidentiary issue that requires
a voir dire arises in the middle of the trial, the In spite of these fears, the Supreme Court
jury must leave the courtroom. of Canada has also recognized that someti-
mes evidence of the accused’s previous mis-
During a voir dire, the trial judge will hear conduct can be highly relevant to the search
evidence and the submissions of counsel and
rule on admissibility. If the evidence is ruled
admissible, it will be presented again in the 4 R. v. Handy, [2002] 2 S.C.R. 908.
10
Katherine Corrick / Marc Rosenberg
for the truth.5 The evidence of previous mis- Evidence of Prior Convictions of the Accused
conduct must go beyond the general bad char-
acter of the accused, and demonstrate that Evidence of an accused person’s prior con-
the accused is likely to act in a specific way victions can be relevant in a trial, particularly
in particular circumstances. For example, as- if the accused testifies. It can also be highly
sume an accused is charged with robbery. The prejudicial to the accused. Like similar fact
prosecution alleges that the accused entered evidence, the fear is that jurors might consid-
a bank and gave the bank teller a note writ- er it more likely that the accused is guilty of
ten in a child’s crayon that said, “Give me all the offence if they know that the accused has
your five and ten-dollar bills and you won’t previously been convicted of crimes. The trial
get hurt.” Evidence that the accused robbed would be unfair if the jury used an accused
another bank in which he gave the teller a person’s record of prior convictions to support
similar note written with a child’s crayon may a finding of guilt.
be admissible to prove that the accused is the
robber. The greater the similarity between the At common law, evidence of the accused’s
offence with which the accused is charged and prior convictions is admissible to attack the
the prior misconduct, the more valuable the accused’s credibility. This rule is codified in
evidence is in the search for the truth. the Canada Evidence Act, which applies to all
criminal trials. Section 12 of the Canada Evi-
If the prosecution wants to lead similar dence Act permits a witness to be questioned
fact evidence, a voir dire must be conducted. about whether the witness has been convicted
The prosecutor and defence counsel will make of any offence. So, the trial judge has the discre-
submissions for and against the admissibility tion to permit the prosecutor to ask an accused
of the potentially dangerous evidence in the who testifies at the trial about prior convictions.
absence of the jury. The jury will only hear the
evidence of prior misconduct if the trial judge Despite these statutory provisions and the
rules that it is admissible. common law rule, there are circumstances in
which allowing the jury to hear evidence of the
If the trial judge allows the jury to hear the accused’s prior convictions could result in an
evidence, the trial judge must also instruct the unfair trial. Like other evidence of prior mis-
jurors about how they can and cannot use the conduct, the risk is that the jury will give undue
evidence in their deliberations. The jurors may weight to the evidence of prior convictions. In
only use the evidence to decide the specific is- other words, the risk is that the jury will not limit
sue to which it is relevant; in our example, the the use of the prior convictions to assessing the
identity of the accused as the robber. The prose- accused’s credibility, but will use the prior con-
cutor will likely have identified the issue for the victions as evidence that the accused committed
trial judge at the beginning of the voir dire. The the offence for which he or she is on trial. The
jury may not use the evidence to decide that greater the similarity between the prior convic-
the accused is a person of bad character and for tions and the charged offence, the greater the
that reason alone more likely to have commit- risk the evidence of prior convictions will be
ted the robbery with which he is charged. The misused. For example, if an accused is charged
trial judge may give this instruction to the jury with assault, and has a prior conviction for as-
right after the jury has heard the evidence and sault, the judge will often not permit the prose-
again at the end of the trial in the jury charge. cutor to question the accused on that conviction,
but permit questioning on other prior convic-
tions, especially for crimes of dishonesty, which
5 See R. v. Sweitzer, [1982] 1 S.C.R. 949. are much more relevant to credibility.
11
JUICIO POR JURADOS
If the trial judge permits the accused to be nevertheless remain an important component
questioned about prior convictions, the jury of the Canadian criminal justice system. Evi-
must be instructed about how it may and how dentiary rules are based on the theory that a
it may not use the evidence. Again, the trial jury composed of ordinary citizens without
judge may instruct the jury as soon after it any legal background will hear the case. The in-
hears the evidence and again at the end of the structions to the jury in the jury charge about
trial in the jury charge. how to use the evidence the jurors have heard
and how to apply the law are also based on the
Statements of the Accused assumption that the jurors have no legal train-
ing. Yet, because in criminal cases, juries simply
Before a jury is permitted to hear evidence deliver a verdict of guilty or not guilty and do
about a statement an accused person gave to a not provide reasons, it is almost impossible to
person in authority, such as a police officer, the determine whether the jury has followed these
prosecutor must satisfy the trial judge that the instructions; has properly applied the law as it
accused made the statement voluntarily. The has been explained; and has properly used the
trial judge must determine this on a voir dire evidence that they have heard.
conducted in the absence of the jury. The issue
on the voir dire is whether the accused made Nevertheless, most trial judges believe,
the statement voluntarily. This issue is never based on their experience, that the jury almost
considered by the jury – it is an issue for the always delivers the correct verdict. Much of
trial judge alone. If the statement is admitted, the system’s faith in the jury process is based
the jury will consider whether it is reliable evi- on the view that most criminal cases turn
dence or not. Voluntariness as an issue is not upon findings of fact and that 12 ordinary citi-
decided by the jury. zens without special legal training are well-
suited to make such findings. Legal norms
The accused is permitted to testify on a and rules are usually based in experience and
voir dire. It does not happen very often ex- common sense and by bringing together a
cept in the case of a voir dire to determine the group of 12 strangers with different and varied
admissibility of a statement made by the ac- backgrounds it is possible to arrive at a factu-
cused. The accused is not required to testify. ally and legally correct verdict.
The accused may testify on the voir dire, and
not testify at the trial. What are the advantages of a jury
system?
As these examples demonstrate, certain
procedures have developed in the Canadian The jury system provides a number of im-
law of evidence to ensure that jurors hear only portant advantages. The most obvious is citi-
admissible evidence. zen involvement in the justice system. Most
people never become involved in the criminal
We now turn to the lessons learned from justice system. If they do, it is because they are
the Canadian experience with jury trials. victims, accused persons or witnesses. By be-
ing on a jury, the citizen has the opportunity
PART 3: LESSONS LEARNED FROM to observe an entire trial and to gain a much
THE CANADIAN EXPERIENCE better appreciation of, and value of, a properly
functioning justice system. The experience of
As we have explained, in Canada, judges almost everyone who has served on a jury is
without juries hear the overwhelming num- that while they were initially somewhat reluc-
ber of civil and criminal cases. Jury trials tant to become involved because of the time
12
Katherine Corrick / Marc Rosenberg
commitment, in the end they found the expe- judges trust juries to arrive at the correct ver-
rience to be very worthwhile. dict, there are several safeguards in place to
protect against decision-making based on ir-
Secondly, the jury system contributes to relevant or inflammatory information. We
the openness and transparency of criminal have already discussed the fact that voir dires
proceedings. Except when they are excluded are conducted in the jury’s absence so that if
so that the judge can make evidentiary rulings, the judge rules that the evidence is inadmissi-
the jurors are present throughout the trial and ble, it never comes to the jury’s attention. Ca-
observe the system in action. Their mere pres- nadian courts, however, are open to the public,
ence guards against secrecy and censorship of including members of the media. Conduct-
criminal proceedings. ing the voir dire in the jury’s absence would
be of little value if the media could report the
Thirdly, on very rare occasions, the jury proceedings. Accordingly, the Criminal Code
system serves as a safeguard against irrational prohibits publication of anything that occurs
and inhumane laws. As we have said, judges in the absence of the jury until the trial is over.
are convinced that almost always juries cor- This ban on publication extends to other pre-
rectly apply the law as it has been explained trial proceedings such as evidence heard on a
to them and come to a correct verdict on the bail hearing, at the preliminary inquiry6 and
facts. There have been occasions, however, in in pre-trial motions before the jury is selected.
most common law countries that have a jury
system where the jury has refused to apply the The important value of the open-court
law when it was considered unfair or inhu- principle is not, however, compromised by
mane. The most striking examples in Canada these publication bans. Although the jury is
occurred over 35 years ago when doctors were excluded during the voir dire, the court re-
prosecuted for performing therapeutic abor- mains open to everyone else. Once the trial
tions in violation of the law against abortion. is finished, the media can report on all of the
Juries consistently refused to convict the doc- pre-trial proceedings and proceedings that
tors despite the overwhelming evidence that took place in the absence of the jury.
the offences were committed. The law was
viewed as inhumane and irrational, and juries What are the problems with appellate
refused to apply it. In the end, after the Ca- review of jury verdicts?
nadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms came
into force in 1982, the Supreme Court of Can- We have mentioned that appellate review of
ada struck down the abortion laws because jury verdicts is generally limited to a review of
they violated the rights of women. While the trial judge’s rulings on admissibility of evi-
so-called jury nullification is rare, it is an im- dence and instructions to the jury. The limits
portant safeguard and, if nothing else, acts to on appellate review derive from the fact that,
deter prosecutors from seeking to enforce leg- in Canada, as in most common law jurisdic-
islation that is out-dated and inhumane. tions, juries do not provide reasons for their
verdicts in criminal cases. It is therefore im-
How does the jury system deal with the possible to review the path that the jury took
open court principle?
6 A preliminary inquiry is a hearing before a judge in which the
It is a fundamental principle of the Canadi- prosecution calls witnesses to establish that there is sufficient
an criminal justice system that the courts are evidence to justify the accused being put on trial. The accused
or the accused’s counsel has the opportunity to cross-examine
open to the public, and the media are free to witnesses and to try and persuade the judge that the case should
publish reports of what occurs in court. While not proceed because of the insufficiency of the evidence.
13
JUICIO POR JURADOS
in finding the facts and whether it correctly almost 50 years from inquiries into wrongful
applied the law to the facts. It is impossible to convictions. Judges must instruct the jury, for
tell whether the jury overlooked important ev- example, on the particular dangers associated
idence or misunderstood important evidence. with eye-witness identification, evidence from
This can be a troubling aspect of jury proceed- jail-house informers, or other persons with spe-
ings and has led to several developments. cial interests in the prosecution. Based on the
wealth of experience gained from these inqui-
The first is an increasingly robust role for the ries, judges will explain to the jury the dangers of
trial judge in screening evidence that has the po- relying upon certain kinds of evidence and why
tential to be misleading and unreliable. This has this evidence may be unreliable or dangerous
become known as the gatekeeper function and and why it must be subjected to special scrutiny.
has assumed special importance in the area of
expert evidence. The unfortunate experience in The third development is the increasing role
Canada over the last 20 years in which unreli- appellate courts are playing in reviewing the
able expert evidence was admitted in both jury facts in a jury case. Although juries do not give
and non-jury cases has led the Supreme Court reasons, the appellate court still has the power
of Canada to require judges to more carefully to overturn a conviction because it is satisfied
scrutinize expert evidence. The Court has come that the verdict is unreasonable. The test for
to appreciate that expert scientific evidence that overturning a jury verdict is necessarily a strict
is not properly explained, that may be unreli- one. The values of transparency, citizen in-
able, and that does not adhere to strict scientific volvement and openness would be undermined
principles may overwhelm and confuse the jury. if the appellate courts too frequently intervened
Judges are now expected to be much more rig- to overturn jury verdicts simply because they
orous in examining the reliability of proposed did not like the result. Nevertheless, the appeal
expert evidence. This gatekeeper function is not court will examine the transcript of the pro-
confined to expert evidence. The judge is also ceedings to determine whether the verdict is
required to critically examine other evidence unreasonable. The appeal court is more likely
that may be of limited value in reaching an ac- to find the verdict is unreasonable where it is
curate verdict. An example is demeanour. Un- based upon evidence that in the court’s expe-
til relatively recently, it was not unusual for the rience has led to miscarriages of justice, such
prosecution to lead evidence of the reaction of as eye-witness identification or problematic cir-
the accused to events in an attempt to bolster cumstantial evidence.
its case. For example, evidence would be led at
the trial in a case involving the death of a child, What are the concerns about jury trials?
where the parent was suspected of the killing,
that the parent did not act “appropriately,” or was No criminal justice system delivers perfect
not sufficiently concerned about the child’s wel- justice. In this final part of the paper we high-
fare. Experience has shown that this type of evi- light problems that are particular to the Canadi-
dence is so subjective, so highly unreliable and an jury system. The first concerns the length and
of such limited real value that it should not be complexity of the system. There is no question
led before the jury. The judge, in carrying out the that jury trials take longer. This is a function of
gatekeeper function, will exclude this evidence the manner in which the jury trials are conduct-
from the jury. ed in Canada. Since evidentiary rulings are made
in the absence of the jury, considerable time may
The second development has been touched be taken up in these proceedings. Then, if the
on earlier. Judges are expected to bring to the evidence is admitted, it must be repeated before
jury charge the lessons learned over the last the jury. In a case where there are many rulings
14
Katherine Corrick / Marc Rosenberg
15
JUICIO POR JURADOS
Terry Skolnik
This paper was written by University of Ottawa law student Terry Skolnik, under the
supervision of, and with the assistance of, several counsel with the Public Prosecution
Service of Canada: Sherri Davis-Barron, Counsel; Nancy L. Irving, General Counsel; and
Noel Sinclair, Associate Chief Federal Prosecutor, Yukon PPSC.
16
Terry Skolnik
Code of 1892.7 Although this right was codi- sufficient evidence to warrant placing the ac-
fied in 1892, the right to trial by jury existed cused on his trial.”12
in the four original Canadian provinces before
the provinces formed the Canadian Confed- It is important to understand that jury tri-
eration in 1867.8 als are not available in all cases;13 their avail-
ability depends on the nature of the crime that
Since Confederation, the procedures re- a person is accused of committing. In some
garding the functioning of the jury in Canada cases, such as murder, the accused is to be
have evolved. Jury trial procedures are now set “automatically tried” by judge and jury unless
out in Part XX of the Criminal Code. Modern a special application is made by the defence
Canadian juries are composed of lay persons to be tried by judge alone with the consent of
chosen at random, called upon to legally de- the Attorney General. In other cases, the ac-
termine the guilt or innocence of an accused cused can elect to be tried by judge and jury,
person charged with a serious crime.9 A jury is while, in the case of less serious offences,14 the
usually composed of 12 persons,10 male or fe- accused must be tried by judge alone. Young
male, who are to act as impartial triers of fact persons15 are also afforded the right to be tried
in assessing whether the Crown has proven its by judge and jury in some cases, notably where
case against the accused beyond a reasonable they stand accused of serious offences such as
doubt. The number of jury members can be murder.16 In Canada, the Youth Criminal Jus-
increased to 13 or 14 persons if the judge con- tice Act generally governs the prosecutions of
siders it advisable in the interests of justice, young persons who are charged with criminal
however, only 12 jury members may deliberate offences. A young person is defined as a per-
in order to render a verdict.11 son who is at least 12 but under 18 at the time
of the commission of the offence.17
When a person is tried by judge and jury
in Canada for an indictable offence, he or she B. Right to trial by judge and jury in
can elect to have a “preliminary inquiry.” A Canada
preliminary inquiry refers to the process by
which a provincial court judge will “inquire The right to be tried by judge and jury is
into the charge to determine whether there is a constitutionally afforded right provided by
subsection 11(f) of the Canadian Charter of
Rights and Freedoms18 (hereafter, Canadian
7 S.C. 1892, c. 29. See also Granger, supra note 4, at 36.
Charter), when the accused is charged with
8 Don Stuart, Ronald J. Delisle & Tim Quigley, Learning an offence punishable by a maximum of five
Canadian Criminal Procedure, 10 ed. (Toronto: Carswell,
2010) at 884.
years or more of imprisonment.
9 Ibid., at 6.
10 Criminal Code (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46), s. 631(5). See also:
Fair and Efficient Criminal Trials Act (S.C. 2011, c. 16), s. 7
which amended the Criminal Code to allow a judge to swear 12 Supra note 8, at 713.
up to 14 jurors. This measure was introduced because the 13 In reality, the majority of criminal cases in Canada are not
time required to hear criminal trials in Canada has steadily tried by jury; most are tried by judge alone. See David M.
increased over the last decade, especially in large, complex Paciocco, Jury Selection in Criminal Trials: Skills, Science,
cases. This can affect the jury’s ability to render a verdict, and the Law, (Concord, Ontario: Irwin Law, 1997) at p. 28.
since it is not uncommon for jurors to be discharged in the 14 These are referred to as “absolute jurisdiction offences,”
course of a trial for various reasons, such as ill health or due which are tried by provincial court judges. See s. 553 of the
to some other unforeseen circumstance. This can result in Criminal Code.
the size of a jury being reduced to below the Criminal Code 15 Youth Criminal Justice Act (S.C. 2002, c. 1), s. 2.
minimum requirement of 10 jurors to render a valid verdict. 16 Ibid., s. 67.
To address this concern, up to 14 jurors may be sworn, sub- 17 Supra, note 15.
ject to a random selection process that determines, after the 18 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Part 1 of the
judge’s charge to the jury, which jurors will deliberate. Constitution Act, 1982, being schedule B to the Canada
11 Ibid. Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c 11.
17
JUICIO POR JURADOS
i. Mandatory trial by judge and jury unless both can elect to be tried by judge and jury in Supe-
attorney general and accused agree to trial by rior Court, or by judge alone in either Superior
judge alone Court or Provincial Court.23 The majority of
criminal offences provide the opportunity for
The accused must, in some cases, be tried accused persons to choose how they will be
by judge and jury in Superior Court unless tried. Where the accused has an election but
both the Attorney General and the accused does not choose his mode of trial, he is deemed
consent to trial by judge alone. This is the case to be tried by judge and jury.24 Furthermore, in
for indictable offences (the most severe crimi- some cases, even where the accused elects to
nal offences) mentioned in s. 469 of the Crimi- be tried by judge alone, the Attorney General
nal Code,19 which include murder, conspiracy can require the accused to be tried by judge
to commit murder, treason, intimidating Par- and jury where the crime is punishable by five
liament or a legislature, and other offences ex- or more years of imprisonment.25
pressly mentioned within the section. Trial by
judge and jury is mandatory for these crimes, PART II : Selection of jury
unless both the Attorney General and the ac- members in Canada
cused consent to the latter being tried by judge
alone.20 Furthermore, although the right to be A. Eligibility and initial selection of jury
tried by judge and jury is a constitutionally members
protected right when the maximum punish-
ment is five years or more of imprisonment, I. Pre-trial selection of potential jurors
trial by judge alone is not a constitutionally
protected right.21 Jury members in Canada must be selected
at random from the local community where
ii. Mandatory trial by judge alone the trial is to be held.26 They must be impartial
between the state and the accused.27 The se-
As mentioned above, some less serious of- lection of jury members is a two-tier process.
fences must be tried by a judge alone in Pro- The first part of the process involves selecting
vincial Court. Such offences include theft un- potential jury members from a list of eligible
der $5,000 (other than theft of cattle), mischief candidates prior to trial. Jury lists or “rolls” are
where the value of the property is under $5,000 compiled according to the particular process
and other offences related to gambling.22 In specified in the relevant provincial or territo-
these cases, a jury trial is not possible even if rial legislation, which varies across Canada.
the accused wishes to have one. Generally, the list is comprised of names of
persons residing in a particular judicial dis-
iii. Trial by judge and jury or by judge alone: trict drawn from voters’ or electors’ lists.
Cases in which the accused can elect his method
of being tried Each province and territory in Canada
has its own legislation that determines who is
In cases where a person is accused of an
offence not specifically mentioned in sections
469 or 553 of the Criminal Code, the accused
23 Ibid., s. 536 (2).
24 Ibid., s. 565(1)(c).
25 Ibid., s. 568. The Attorney General may direct that an accu-
19 (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46). sed be tried by a judge and jury when he or she believes it is
20 Ibid., s. 473. in the public interest to do so.
21 R. v. Turpin, [1989] 1 S.C.R. 1296 at 1321. 26 See Granger, supra note 4, at 83.
22 Criminal Code, s. 553. 27 Ibid.
18
Terry Skolnik
eligible for jury duty.28 In most Canadian prov- number of persons is sufficient to constitute
inces and territories a person must be 18 years a full jury in the opinion of the judge, in light
of age and a Canadian citizen to sit on a jury.29 of the fact that some potential jurors may be
excused, challenged, or be directed to “stand
These statutes that provide eligibility cri- by.”34 The jurors are then sworn in by the clerk
teria for potential jury members, automati- of the court.35
cally exclude police officers, lawyers, members
of Parliament, and judges from being jurors. B. Excusing and challenging jury
Provincial and territorial statutes also speci- members
fy grounds upon which potential jurors may
apply to be excused or exempted from jury i. Excusing jury members
duty, such as hardship or physical, mental or
other infirmity that is incompatible with the The Criminal Code provides that the judge
discharge of the duties of a juror. These po- may, at any time before the commencement of
tential jurors compose what is referred to as the trial, excuse jury members from jury ser-
the “array” or “the panel,”30 which is eventually vice regardless of whether a challenge has been
reduced to 12 to 14 jurors in the second part of made against a member of the panel. Firstly,
the jury selection process: in-court selection. jury members may be excused where the judge
has concerns that the juror has a personal in-
II. At – trial selection of potential jurors terest in the matter to be tried.36 Secondly, a
relationship between the juror and the judge
The second part of the process involves the presiding over the jury selection process, or
in-court selection of jury members prior to between the juror and the trial judge, the pros-
the commencement of the trial. This selection ecutor, the defence counsel, the accused, or a
process is governed exclusively by the Criminal prospective witness, may also lead to the juror
Code. Firstly, the potential jury members who being excused.37 Finally, personal hardship of
comprise the jury panel present themselves at a member of the panel can also lead to a panel
court. The panel number, name, and address member being excused.38
of each member of the panel are written sep-
arately on equal sized cards.31 The cards are ii. Challenges of jury members by counsel
then delivered to the clerk of the court who
places the cards into a box and shakes the box At trial, counsel for either the defence or
thoroughly.32 The clerk then draws the cards the Crown can “challenge” potential jurors.
from the box and calls out the number on each The purpose of the challenge is “to eliminate
card, and confirms the number corresponds to or to reject undesirable jurors” 39 or those sus-
the name of the person on the card33 until the pected of potential partiality. There are three
methods of challenging potential jurors: (a)
the entire panel can be challenged, (b) individ-
28 See for example in the province of Ontario: Juries Act ual members of the panel can be challenged by
R.S.O. 1990, c. J.3; for the province of Quebec: Jurors Act
R.S.Q. 2002, c. J-2. a “peremptory challenge” (c) or by “challenge
29 Some jurisdictions (British Columbia, New Brunswick, for cause.”
Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon)
have an age requirement of 19 years.
30 See Granger, supra note 4, at 143.
31 Criminal Code, s. 631(1). 34 Ibid., s. 631(3).
32 Ibid., s. 631(2). 35 Ibid., s. 631(4).
33 Ibid., s. 631 (6) provides that measures to protect the iden- 36 Ibid., s. 632 (a).
tity of jury members is permissible if it is in the interest of 37 Ibid, s. 632(b).
the administration of justice. It is therefore not necessary 38 Ibid, s. 632 (c).
that the name of the juror be called out. 39 See Granger, supra note 4, at 144.
19
JUICIO POR JURADOS
a. Challenge to the “array”: challenging the probabilities (meaning that it is more likely
entire panel. than not that the grounds of the challenge are
Firstly, counsel can challenge the entire jury true.)48 There are only six possible grounds for
panel referred to as a “challenge to the array.”40 challenge for cause, which are exhaustively
The entire panel can only be challenged on listed in the Criminal Code:
three grounds: partiality, fraud or wilful mis-
conduct on the part of the sheriff or other of- a. the name of a juror does not appear on the
ficer by whom the panel was returned.41 panel, but no misnomer or misdescription
is a ground of challenge where it appears
b. The peremptory challenge. to the court that the description given on
Both the prosecution and the defence have the panel sufficiently designates the person
a limited number of peremptory challenges, referred to;
which they can use without having to estab- b. a juror is not indifferent between the Queen
lish a reason.42 The peremptory challenge is and the accused;
made by counsel prior to the jury member c. a juror has been convicted of an offence for
being sworn in at trial.43 The number of pe- which he was sentenced to death49 or to a
remptory challenges depends upon the grav- term of imprisonment exceeding twelve
ity of the crime for which the accused is being months;
tried. When the accused is charged with first d. a juror is an alien;50
degree murder or high treason, the prosecu- e. a juror, even with the aid of technical, per-
tion and the defence each have 20 peremp- sonal, interpretative or other support servi-
tory challenges.44 Other situations provide for ces provided to the juror under section 627,
12 or four peremptory challenges, depending is physically unable to perform properly
on the maximum penalty for the offence be- the duties of a juror; or
ing tried.45 Even where accused persons are f. a juror does not speak the official language of
tried on multiple counts, they still benefit Canada that is the language of the accused or
from the same number of challenges as if they the official language of Canada in which the ac-
were tried on one count alone, according to cused can best give testimony or both official
the count which permits the most peremptory languages of Canada, where the accused is re-
challenges.46 quired by reason of an order under section 530
to be tried before a judge and jury who speak
c. The challenge for cause the official language of Canada that is the lan-
Finally, both the prosecution and the de- guage of the accused or the official language of
fence may challenge an unlimited number Canada in which the accused can best give tes-
of jurors for cause, on grounds that must be timony or who speak both official languages of
“specified and proven.”47 Members of the pan- Canada, as the case may be.51
el are not automatically excluded for cause,
but rather, will be excluded if the grounds The purpose of making such challenges
of the challenge are proven on a balance of is to ensure a fair trial before an impartial
jury rather than to over- or under-represent a
certain class of society, or to go on a fishing
40 Ibid.
41 Criminal Code, s. 629(2)
42 See Granger, supra note 4, at 144. 48 Ibid.
43 Ibid., at 189. 49 The death penalty was abolished in Canada in 1976 but s.
44 Criminal Code, s. 634 (2)(a). 638 of the Criminal Code has not been revised to reflect
45 Ibid, s. 634(2)(b) and (c). this fact.
46 Ibid, s. 634 (3). 50 Alien in this context means a non - Canadian citizen.
47 See Granger, supra note 4 at 158. 51 Criminal Code, s. 638.
20
Terry Skolnik
21
JUICIO POR JURADOS
CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY
Among the paramount objectives of Can- SECONDARY SOURCES
ada’s jury system is to ensure that the guilt or Christopher Granger, Canadian Criminal
innocence of an accused person in relation to Jury Trials, 2d ed. (Scarborough, Ont.: Car-
a serious criminal matter is determined by an swell, 1997)
impartial jury of his or her peers, generally in Sadakat Kadri, The Trial: A History, from So-
the community where the alleged crime oc- crates to O.J.Simpson (New York: Random
curred. This goal is supported by juror eligi- House, 2005).
bility requirements in provincial and territo- David M. Paciocco, Jury Selection in Criminal
rial legislation, and by numerous procedural Trials: Skills, Science, and the Law, (Con-
mechanisms in the Criminal Code, to ensure cord, Ontario: Irwin Law, 1997)
fairness, notably by challenging and excusing Don Stuart, Ronald J. Delisle & Tim Quigley,
jury members, sequestering jurors, and re- Learning Canadian Criminal Procedure,
quiring unanimous jury verdicts. 10 ed. (Toronto: Carswell, 2010).
22
JUICIO POR JURADOS
Carla Pandolfi
Coordinadora de la Comisión Interpoderes
para la reforma procesal penal neuquina.
Comentarios sobre
el sistema canadiense
En mayo de 2011 tuve la oportunidad de reformas procesales, que buscan dejar atrás el
visitar Canadá, en el marco de una pasantía sistema inquisitivo y pasar a un sistema acusa-
otorgada por CEJA, para conocer su sistema torio para cumplir con la manda constitucio-
de justicia. Este país tiene uno de los siste- nal impuesta en 1853.
mas adversariales más antiguos, cuenta con
juicio por jurados para muchos de los delitos En Canadá los delitos con una pena ma-
que deben ser juzgados, y la sociedad tiene yor a 5 años, deben ser juzgados por jurados.
una percepción muy positiva en cuanto a su La intervención del jurado comienza una vez
funcionamiento. que ya está determinada la fecha de juicio. La
primera actividad que los involucra es la au-
Fue una experiencia enriquecedora. Fue diencia de selección de jurados para el juicio.
gratificante conocer la organización del sis- Se cita a los potenciales jurados para un día
tema y constatar el compromiso de todos los determinado en la sala de audiencias, en un
operadores para su correcto funcionamiento. número bastante mayor que el necesario para
Pude entrevistarme con jueces, policías, fis- integrar el jurado.
cales, defensores, oficiales de probation, etc.
Cada uno conoce cabalmente cuál es su tra- Cuando llegan, se les entrega un número
bajo, cuáles son las reglas del juego, y están a cada uno. Luego se sortean públicamente,
dispuestos a cumplirlas y hacer su trabajo co- grupos de diez personas. Posteriormente son
rrectamente. Para que ello ocurra, existen me- interrogados por el juez, en relación a si tienen
canismos de control que funcionan en tiempo algún impedimento para actuar como jurados,
y forma, logrando brindar una respuesta en un si creen que no van a poder ser imparciales,
plazo razonable. o tienen criaturas o ancianos que cuidar y no
pueden estar lejos de su hogar, etc. Fuera de
Particularmente me interesaba conocer el ello, ser jurado es una carga pública, y los ciu-
funcionamiento del juicio por jurados, dado dadanos están orgullosos de participar en la
que en varias provincias argentinas se está de- administración de justicia. Las partes pueden
batiendo su implementación en el marco de las recusar sin causa, una cantidad variable de
23
JUICIO POR JURADOS
jurados, de acuerdo a la gravedad del delito a la ley canadiense obliga a realizar nuevamente
juzgar. Así se van sorteando, hasta que queda el juicio.
conformado el jurado de doce personas. Juran
cumplir con su deber, y comienza el juicio, La percepción de los operadores, jueces,
como un juicio común. fiscales, defensores, policías, y la del público
en general, es muy positiva para con el sistema
La estructuración del proceso, con ausen- de jurados. No conciben su sistema de Justi-
cia total del deber de “disclosure” de la defen- cia, sin la existencia de los jurados. Resaltan la
sa, es decir que no tienen obligación de adelan- necesidad de legitimar decisiones y compartir
tar absolutamente nada de su teoría del caso la responsabilidad de impartir Justicia con el
(si será una defensa positiva, por inimputabi- pueblo.
lidad, etc.), sumado a que no hay obligación de
concentrar los planteos por nulidades, exclu- Ello es sumamente valorable, más aún en
sión de evidencia, entre otros, hace que muy un sistema como el canadiense, que tiene
frecuentemente se produzcan audiencias de como característica la ausencia total de re-
voir dire para llevar adelante estas discusio- gulación de plazos procesales. No hay plazos
nes durante los juicios. Para esto, los jurados totales para los procesos, ni para los actos. Y
son invitados a salir de la sala, para que no no hay prescripción para perseguir un delito.
vean comprometida su imparcialidad con esas Además, la tipificación de conductas como
discusiones. delitos es bastante más extensa que en otros
lugares, como por ejemplo Argentina, ya que
Una vez terminado el juicio con la discu- en muchos casos, lo que para nosotros consti-
sión final de las partes, sin la presencia del ju- tuye simple infracción o falta administrativa,
rado, se debaten las instrucciones que les van a en Canadá constituye un delito que debe ser
ser brindadas al jurado, para la apreciación de investigado y juzgado por el sistema criminal.
las pruebas producidas, que guiarán el razona- Todo ello genera procesos “largos”, ya que los
miento para alcanzar un veredicto. plazos son convenidos entre la defensa y la fis-
calía, y el flujo de casos y la extensión de las
Usualmente, el juez que dirige el proceso acusaciones son muy importantes.
va realizando un borrador sobre las posibles
instrucciones mientras se desarrolla el proce- La ausencia de regulación de una etapa
so, intercambiando opiniones con las partes intermedia del proceso, también contribuye
informalmente. Hay una cantidad de reglas al alargamiento de los procesos, ya que las
básicas en relación por ejemplo a la duda razo- incidencias relativas a cuestiones de prueba,
nable, que siempre están incluidas, a las cuales entre otras cosas, pueden plantearse en todo
se agregan las particulares del caso, luego de la momento.
discusión entre partes y la determinación del
juez. En caso de que el jurado manifieste algu- Y aun con una percepción social muy po-
na duda en relación a las instrucciones para sitiva del funcionamiento de la justicia, los
resolver ciertas cuestiones, deben expresarlas funcionarios de rango se encargan de llevar
por escrito y se formula una nueva audiencia adelante políticas para revisar el funciona-
entre las partes y el juez, para evaluar si se miento del sistema y seguir mejorando la ca-
brindan más instrucciones o no. lidad. Ejemplo de ello es el comité para revisar
sentencias erróneas, la existencia de “guideli-
El jurado alcanza el veredicto con los doce ness”, instrucciones fiscales para la actuación
votos coincidentes, ya sean por la absolución en base a criterios objetivos del Ministerio
o la condena. Si no se alcanza la unanimidad, Público, que facilita además la capacitación
24
Carla Pandolfi
25
JUICIO POR JURADOS
Jueces ciudadanos:
democratizando la justicia
en Bolivia
26
Ramiro Orias Arredondo
27
JUICIO POR JURADOS
En más de diez años de funcionamiento del A pesar de esa alta valoración social, se han
sistema penal reformado en Bolivia, la insti- registrado en los medios algunas críticas des-
tución de los Jueces ciudadanos ha sido hasta de el seno de la judicatura. Por ejemplo, se ha
ahora una de las más apoyadas por la pobla- dicho que “los Jueces ciudadanos se han con-
ción y que ha ganado los índices más altos de vertido en una de las mayores debilidades del
credibilidad social. sistema de juicios penales orales”6, así como
que “la mayoría de ciudadanos elegidos por
Así, un estudio de campo realizado por sorteo para conformar Tribunales de Senten-
Ciudadanos Trabajando por la Justicia entre cia retardan y hacen inviable una oportuna
sus conclusiones se exhibe “la gran valoración administración de justicia”7. Recientemente se
que la población le otorga a esta función ciu- ha reiterado que los Jueces ciudadanos son un
dadana, considerada como expresión de una factor que retarda el inicio del juicio oral8 .
justicia más democrática y transparente”3.
Distintas encuestas de opinión y evaluaciones De forma general se ha señalado también
muestran que la sociedad expresa que uno de que “la información imprecisa de la central
los elementos mejor valorados y con mayor re- de notificaciones del Consejo de la Judicatura
conocimiento en la justicia nacional son preci- para nominar a los jueces ciudadanos y el pa-
samente el juicio oral y los Jueces ciudadanos. drón electoral desactualizado son identifica-
Así, en una investigación de opinión pública das como dos de las dificultades que impiden
sobre la cultura política en Bolivia, el 82.9% mejorar la administración de justicia, desde
de los ciudadanos entrevistados, según una la aplicación del Código de Procedimiento
muestra estadística nacional, consideró que el Penal”9. Asimismo, algunos Jueces ciudadanos
juicio penal “mediante jueces ciudadanos”, es han denunciado que “el Consejo de la Judica-
algo bueno y/o muy bueno para la justicia en el tura no les paga los honorarios previstos por
país4 . En el mismo sentido, una encuesta reali- ley por el cumplimiento de su labor, y se han
zada en mayo de 2006, por encargo de Ciuda- quejado por el maltrato que reciben cuando
danos Trabajando por la Justicia, detectó que acuden a esas instalaciones en procura de su
7 de cada 10 encuestados consideraba que el legítima remuneración”10.
principal beneficio del CPP era la inclusión de
jueces ciudadanos y el juicio oral. Menciona- Por todo ello, se hace necesario hacer un
mos también un segundo trabajo de Mitchel balance de sus avances y debilidades, a fin de
Seligson, que al consultar la opinión de los entender por qué un instituto con tan alta va-
operadores de la justicia con relación al apoyo/ loración social ha empezado a generar críticas
resistencia al cambio institucional, el 88% de y cuestionamientos sobre su contribución a la
ellos afirmaron que la participación de Jueces mejora de la justicia. En este artículo de análi-
ciudadanos es buena y/o muy buena para los sis, efectuaremos una síntesis de su normativa
procesos penales5.
28
Ramiro Orias Arredondo
legal, tomaremos algunos datos estadísticos actividades previas al Juicio Oral que mayor
y empíricos de evaluaciones realizadas, para trascendencia reviste dentro del procedimien-
terminar con conclusiones y recomendaciones to penal. Así, conocen el juicio oral tribunales
para fortalecer el régimen legal de los jueces conformados por cinco jueces. Tres deben ser
ciudadanos. procedentes de la ciudadanía; proporción ma-
yoritaria que debe mantenerse aun en aque-
llos casos en que por alguna contingencia se
2. Régimen legal de los jueces produzca la ausencia de algún juez (art. 52 del
ciudadanos CCP).
Cuando Bolivia nació como República, en Se establecen los requisitos (art. 57 CPP)
su primera Constitución Política del Estado, que deben cumplir los ciudadanos para poder
del 19 de noviembre de 1826, ya se contem- ser designados como Jueces ciudadanos, entre
pló la participación de ciudadanos en la admi- los que se encuentran: 1) ser mayor de 25 años;
nistración de la justicia, que establecía en ese 2) estar en pleno ejercicio de los derechos ciu-
entonces el juicio público por jurados, que no dadanos; 3) tener domicilio reconocido; y 4)
tuvieron mayor arraigo en la cultura de solu- tener profesión, ocupación, oficio, arte o in-
ción de litigios en el país. dustria conocidos.
Art. 125 – En las causas criminales Así como se contemplan los impedimentos
el juzgamiento será público; reconocido (art. 58 CPP) por los cuales ciertos ciudadanos
el hecho y declarado por jurados (cuan- no podrán cumplir con esta función y entre
do se establezcan) y la ley aplicada por ellos tenemos: 1) los abogados; 2) los funcio-
los jueces. narios auxiliares de los Juzgados y de la Fisca-
lía; y 3) los miembros de Servicio Activo de las
Es hasta los albores del siglo XXI que el Có- Fuerzas Armadas y de la Policía Nacional. Con
digo de Procedimiento Penal (CPP), aprobado esto se busca evitar el sesgo jurídico dominan-
en 1999, que introdujo un capítulo especial en te en la composición del Tribunal de Sentencia
el que regula la integración de los Tribunales y así asegurar mejor el sentir de la comunidad
de Sentencia con Jueces ciudadanos, los requi- mediante la participación popular.
sitos e impedimentos para cumplir la función
de Juez ciudadano, los mecanismos de selec- En cuanto a los mecanismos de selección,
ción, sus deberes, facultades y las sanciones en estos se activan a partir de las listas del padrón
caso de incumplimiento. electoral. Son los Tribunales Departamentales
Electorales los encargados de elaborar anual-
El rol de los Jueces ciudadanos solo puede mente el padrón de ciudadanos que cumplan
entenderse, junto con la introducción del juicio los requisitos exigidos para ser Jueces ciuda-
oral, como garantía del debido proceso penal. danos y presentan anualmente dicho padrón
El Juicio Oral significa la auténtica publicidad, a las Cortes Superiores de Justicia de cada de-
referida a todos los ciudadanos, no solo a los partamento del país (art.59 CP).
sujetos procesales o a la intervención de las
partes, que es esencial en un régimen demo- Las Cortes Superiores de Justicia en cada
crático y constituye un eficaz instrumento de departamento son las encargadas de elaborar
control ciudadano sobre el poder que ejercen la lista de candidatos a Jueces ciudadanos para
los operadores oficiales del sistema. No cabe cada uno de los Tribunales de Sentencia, por
duda que la integración de los tribunales de sorteo y según el domicilio correspondiente
sentencia por Jueces ciudadanos es una de las (art. 60 CPP).
29
JUICIO POR JURADOS
Una vez señalada la audiencia del juicio en su favor -cuando se trate de trabajadores
oral y 15 días antes de la fecha señalada para independientes-, equivalente al 50% del pago
su realización, el presidente del Tribunal de- de un juez técnico (art. 66 CPP).
berá elegir en sesión pública por sorteo a 12
ciudadanos de entre los que él tiene asignados Concluida la actuación de constitución del
para su tribunal. El nombre de los 12 seleccio- Tribunal de Sentencia, se ingresa a la sustan-
nados debe ser puesto en conocimiento de las ciación del juicio oral. Sus cinco miembros
partes a fin de realizar la audiencia de consti- asumen su labor deliberativa del caso en igual-
tución (art. 61 CPP). dad de condiciones y decisión. Este tribunal
colegiado valora cada uno de los elementos de
La audiencia de constitución es el acto pú- prueba, aplicando las reglas de la sana crítica o
blico en el cual deben quedar seleccionados sistema de libre convicción, en base a la apre-
los tres jueces que definitivamente constitui- ciación integral, conjunta y armónica de toda
rán sala de justicia. Es en la audiencia donde se la prueba esencial producida (art. 173 CPP) y
resolverá sobre impedimentos o excusas pre- expondrán los razonamientos en que funda-
sentadas por alguno de los candidatos, sobre la menta su decisión (art. 359 CPP).
recusación fundada que pueda ser presentada
por alguna de las partes, así como la posibili- Concluido el debate, los miembros del Tri-
dad que existe de recusar a dos de los jueces, bunal pasarán de inmediato y sin interrupción
sin necesidad de fundamentar dicho rechazo a deliberar en sesión secreta. Los jueces –le-
(art. 62 CPP). trados y legos- deliberarán y votarán respecto
de todas las cuestiones, en el siguiente orden:
En el caso en que no fuese posible integrar 1) cuestiones incidentales; 2) la absolución o
el Tribunal con la lista original, se efectuará un condena del imputado; y 3) la imposición de
sorteo extraordinario y se repetirá el procedi- la pena.
miento de selección y constitución del Tribu-
nal, abreviando plazos para evitar demoras en Las decisiones se adoptarán por mayoría.
el juicio. Si efectuado el sorteo extraordinario Los jueces fundamentarán por escrito y se-
no fuera posible integrar el Tribunal con los paradamente sus votos si hay disidencias o lo
Jueces ciudadanos, el juicio se celebrará en el harán en forma conjunta cuando todos ellos
asiento judicial más próximo, repitiéndose el estén de acuerdo.
procedimiento de selección (art. 63 CPP).
En el último tiempo, este régimen jurídi-
En relación a los deberes, atribuciones y co ha ido dando algunos avances, ampliando
sanciones aplicables a los jueces ciudadanos, y fortaleciendo la participación de los jueces
la norma establece que desde el momento de ciudadanos en la función judicial. Hoy el país
su designación, los Jueces ciudadanos serán vive un proceso de transición constitucional y
considerados integrantes del Tribunal y du- reforma institucional de los órganos del Esta-
rante la sustanciación del juicio tendrán los do, que se están adecuando al mandato de la
mismos deberes y atribuciones que los jueces nueva Constitución Política del Estado, apro-
técnicos (art. 64 CPP). Si incumple sus debe- bada en el referéndum nacional constituyen-
res judiciales, será sancionado como delito te de 2009, que define que la potestad de im-
de desobediencia a la autoridad (art. 65 CPP). partir justicia emana del pueblo boliviano, y
Finalmente, la función de Juez ciudadano es se sustenta por los principios de participación
remunerada, sea mediante la declaratoria en ciudadana, publicidad, oralidad entre otros
comisión con goce de haberes cuando tiene un (art. 178 CPE).
empleo fijo, o con una asignación del Estado
30
Ramiro Orias Arredondo
Podemos decir que los Jueces ciudadanos principales desafíos para consolidar este ins-
constituyen una expresión de ese proceso enun- tituto11. En aquel entonces ya se evidenciaron
ciado constitucional, que hoy se está institucio- algunos elementos prácticos sobre la necesi-
nalizado. Si bien el Código de Procedimiento dad de mejorar los sistemas de conformación
Penal introdujo la participación de los Jueces ciu- de los Tribunales de Sentencia.
dadanos dentro del juicio penal, el sistema judi-
cial en lo orgánico no los asimiló como parte de A los 10 años de la aprobación del Código
su composición y estructura, hasta que la recien- de Procedimiento Penal, en el año 2009, Che-
te Ley Nº 025 del Órgano Judicial, de 24 de junio chi Consulting y Compañeros de las Améri-
de 2010, en su artículo 60, establece ahora que: cas, dentro del Programa de Apoyo a la Admi-
nistración de Justicia de USAID, realizaron un
“Los Tribunales de Sentencia, están estudio de campo sobre el funcionamiento de
integrados por dos jueces técnicos y tres los Jueces ciudadanos en la justicia penal, a par-
ciudadanos. Los Tribunales de Senten- tir de un proceso de observación de audiencias
cia, conocerán de los asuntos penales, y recolección de información, encomendando
anticorrupción y otros especializados al abogado penalista Paulino Verastegui la sis-
conforme a ley. Tienen competencia tematización de la investigación12 . El presente
para conocer la substanciación y reso- acápite es una versión basada en la informa-
lución del juicio penal en todos los de- ción presentada en ese reporte.
litos de acción pública, sancionados con
pena privativa de libertad mayores a 4 Dicho trabajo de evaluación del funciona-
años, con las excepciones establecidas miento de los Jueces ciudadanos se centró esen-
en la ley”. cialmente en lo referido al sorteo de la lista de
los 12 ciudadanos y la audiencia de constitución
Además, en esta misma ley se amplía su de tribunal con los 3 Jueces ciudadanos. De ma-
presencia en los nuevos Tribunales Disciplina- nera tangencial se ha abordado la problemática
rios, competentes para sustanciar en primera del desempeño de éstos en el juicio oral en sí.
instancia, procesos disciplinarios por faltas
gravísimas de los jueces; así el artículo 192 de El estudio establece una muestra altamen-
la LOJ señala: los Tribunales Disciplinarios es- te representativa en cuanto a sus resultados,
tarán compuestos por la Jueza o el Juez Dis- ya que cubrió las tres ciudades del eje central,
ciplinario y dos (2) Jueces ciudadanos elegidos es decir La Paz, Cochabamba y Santa Cruz,
del Padrón Electoral, conforme a las reglas se- además de ciudades importantes aledañas,
ñaladas en el Procedimiento Penal. como son: El Alto, Quillacollo y Montero las
que constituyen alrededor del 70% de la carga
procesal penal del país, significando 24 Tribu-
3. Un balance crítico necesario nales de Sentencia13.
31
JUICIO POR JURADOS
El estudio aplicó un método empírico de que debe preocupar es el bajo nivel de cumpli-
observación de los sorteos y las audiencias de miento de la obligación que tiene el presiden-
constitución de tribunal, durante un mes ca- te del Tribunal de presidir el sorteo, deber que
lendario en los seis asientos judiciales. En este sólo se cumple en un 21%, dejando esta función
periodo, a nivel nacional, se observaron 458 muchas veces a los secretarios del Juzgado.
sesiones de sorteo y 698 audiencias de cons-
titución de tribunal efectivamente realizadas. La participación de los sujetos procesales
en la sesión de sorteo es bastante baja tenien-
Para el cumplimiento de los objetivos ano- do al imputado con un 42% de presencia en la
tados, se diseñaron formularios o pautas de audiencia, seguido por el querellante y el fis-
observación para identificar buenas y malas cal, quienes participan en un 9 y 8% respecti-
prácticas en las sesiones de sorteo y en las vamente. Un dato que llama a la reflexión es el
audiencias de constitución de Tribunal, las referido a la causa por la que se suspenden las
mismas que estuvieron a cargo de abogados sesiones de sorteo. Esta suspensión se produjo
y egresados reclutados por las organizaciones por falta de notificación a las partes en un 51%,
de la sociedad civil, que desempeñaron acción a pesar de que el art. 61 del CPP establece que
presencial en las audiencias en su calidad de el sorteo se puede realizar a pesar de la falta de
observadores ciudadanos. notificación a las partes.
3.1 Algunos elementos para el análisis El antes citado art. 61 establece que la lista
de sorteados debe ponerse en conocimiento de
a) El sorteo de jueces ciudadanos confor- las partes, este precepto se cumple en el 79%.
me establece el artículo 61 de CPP, señalada La convocatoria en cinco días a la audiencia de
la audiencia de juicio y quince días antes de su constitución de tribunal se cumple de manera
realización el presidente del Tribunal elegirá efectiva en un promedio de 80%.
por sorteo, en sesión pública y previa notifi-
cación a las partes, a 12 ciudadanos del listado b) La audiencia de constitución de tribu-
del Padrón Electoral, los que serán consigna- nal establecida en el artículo 62 del CPP, se-
dos en una lista, con el objeto de integrar el ñala el procedimiento a seguir con el objeto
Tribunal de Sentencia. de seleccionar a los futuros Jueces ciudadanos
que en número de tres, conjuntamente con los
De las 459 audiencias observadas en la dos jueces técnicos, van a tener a su cargo la
muestra nacional, el reporte señala que el sor- resolución de acusaciones por delitos con pe-
teo se realiza mediante medios informáticos nas privativas mayores a 4 años.
en un 99%, de manera efectiva en un 93% de
los casos. Respecto del plazo de 15 días, éste Durante la observación de 698 audiencias
se ha cumplido en un 78%. En cuanto al lugar de constitución de Tribunal, el estudio con-
donde se realiza el sorteo, se efectúa en el Tri- cluye que esta actuación pública para confor-
bunal en un 74 %; y en Secretaría en un 25%. mar Tribunales con Jueces ciudadanos tiene
La sesión de sorteo fue pública un 82% de las un porcentaje bastante aceptable y efectivo de
veces y el presidente del Tribunal sólo realiza 90%. Estas audiencias tuvieron un carácter de
el sorteo en un 21%. ordinaria en un 58% y fueron extraordinarias
en un 42%, en los casos en los que tuvo que
En cuanto a la sesión de sorteo podemos repetirse la selección de Jueces ciudadanos. De
señalar que ésta tiene un buen nivel de cum- las audiencias no realizadas, 77% correspon-
plimiento de acuerdo a los presupuestos que dían a audiencias ordinarias y 23% a audien-
establece la ley. Sin embargo, el único aspecto cias extraordinarias. Este dato nos debe hacer
32
Ramiro Orias Arredondo
33
JUICIO POR JURADOS
capacitación continua a los jueces técnicos en fueron la valoración de las pruebas presen-
funciones y a los Jueces ciudadanos que se in- tadas y los mecanismos para determinar
corporan; v) creación de niveles de coordina- la pena; ii) en la imposición de la pena son
ción entre los operadores de justicia penal y las duros con delitos contra la vida y la libertad
oficinas de catastro municipal, derechos rea- sexual, y blandos en lo relativo a delitos de
les, teléfonos, energía eléctrica, agua potable, narcotráfico cuando observan imputados que
identificación personal, etc. para contar con la han realizado estas actividades por necesidad
mayor información posible y en poco tiempo económica; iii) en cuanto a la suspensión de
poder identificar a los ciudadanos sorteados. audiencias es en la ciudad de La Paz donde se
da con mayor frecuencia esta situación, por
e) Sugerencias de reforma normativa para la carga procesal que ocasionó el fracciona-
constituir Tribunales. Contamos con i) consti- miento de las audiencias de juicio; v) la sus-
tuir tribunal con un juez técnico y dos ciudada- pensión de audiencias se origina por la inasis-
nos para incrementar su número; ii) incorporar tencia de los fiscales, la ausencia de testigos
la etapa intermedia para que el juez instructor principales de la Fiscalía, en especial policías;
determine la procedencia de juicio oral o la apli- cambio constante de abogados defensores
cación de salidas alternativas; iii) incorporar en por parte de los imputados y el abuso de los
la norma que el proceso cuando no pueda ser abogados en el uso de excusas y excusaciones
sorteado pasará al siguiente en número o se rea- a los jueces en el juicio oral.
lizará sorteos constantes hasta conformar tri-
bunal; iv) eliminar la posibilidad de recusar sin g) La votación de los jueces ciudadanos
fundamento; v) reducción de la edad a 21 años en los Tribunales de Sentencia14 se produce
para ser juez ciudadano y colocar un máximo después de la deliberación para la imposición
de 65 años para el ejercicio de estas funciones. de la pena o la declaratoria de absolutoria. La
presente muestra busca conocer la forma de
f) La participación de los jueces ciu- votación de los Jueces ciudadanos con los jue-
dadanos en juicios orales nos permite seña- ces técnicos, es decir, si las votaciones fueron
lar que i) los aspectos que más costó entender unánimes o existieron disidencias.
34
Ramiro Orias Arredondo
Las sentencias emitidas en su mayoría son con el padrón, sobre todo en la ubicación de
condenatorias en los distritos de Santa Cruz, direcciones o domicilios pero que han ido sub-
Cochabamba, Quillacollo y Montero. En cam- sanando; vi) llegan a notificar a 6 ciudadanos
bio en La Paz y El Alto existe una menor pro- en promedio a quienes entregan cartillas ex-
porción de sentencias condenatorias con ma- plicativas en un plazo de hasta 24 horas antes
yor aplicación de absolutorias y mixtas. de la audiencia de constitución.
35
JUICIO POR JURADOS
36
Ramiro Orias Arredondo
Suprema mediante circulares debe establecer En suma, Bolivia ha dado un paso funda-
pautas o protocolos estandarizados de gestión; mental en democratizar su sistema de justicia,
v) el Ministerio Público mediante circulares así como para devolver a los ciudadanos la ca-
debe ordenar a sus fiscales asistir a las audien- pacidad de juzgar a sus pares. Sin embargo, a
cias de constitución de Tribunal; vi) se debe más de 10 años de funcionamiento de los jue-
prestar atención a la situación de las Centra- ces ciudadanos, se hace necesario una acción
les de Notificaciones debido a su elevada carga especialmente orientada a mejorar los siste-
procesal; vii) reiniciar campañas de sensibili- mas de gestión y procesos para constituir los
zación a la sociedad civil para informar sobre tribunales de sentencia; aunque estas debilida-
el rol, derechos y deberes de esta institución; des y demoras, en nada ponen sombra al rol
viii) el Consejo de la Judicatura debe capacitar de los jueces ciudadanos dentro el juicio oral,
a sus funcionarios, en especial notificadores que con su presencia han permitido la im-
en mejorar el trato a los ciudadanos median- portación de una justicia más independiente,
te talleres motivacionales; ix) el Consejo de la transparente y sensible a la realidad cultural,
Judicatura debiera retomar la publicación del económica y social de la comunidad. n
Manual del juez ciudadano en juicio oral para
que el ciudadano tenga una orientación bási-
ca y didáctica; x) el Consejo de la Judicatura
deberá implementar un sistema rápido de in-
ducción y capacitación a los jueces ciudadanos
seleccionados.
37
JUICIO POR JURADOS
Andrés Harfuch
En ese sentido, el Código de Neuquén pue- Nunca ningún código llegó tan lejos en el
de ostentar legítimamente el título de herede- proceso de reforma de la región.
ro privilegiado del movimiento reformista que
ya lleva treinta años en América Latina. Gran parte de las críticas que recibió el
movimiento reformista de justicia en sus tres
Mucho ha habido que batallar desde que, décadas de existencia fueron, efectivamente,
en aquellos lejanos años ochenta, se instaurara que se sancionaron códigos novedosos que
siquiera la idea de que el juicio debía ser oral y preveían la división entre Fiscalía y jueces y
que la instrucción debía quedar a cargo de un defensa, que instauraron el juicio oral, etc.,
fiscal y no de un juez, para construir de cero pero que cometieron el error de montarlo so-
un Ministerio Público Fiscal y un sistema de bre las organizaciones judiciales preexistentes
Defensa Pública, etc., etc.. que nunca fueron tocadas.
Cuando decimos que el Código de Neu- Para ilustrar esto con claridad, las estruc-
quén es el código más de avanzada de la re- turas judiciales de los sistemas escritos e in-
gión es porque ha logrado un consenso políti- quisitoriales son verticales, autoritarias, con
co inédito en torno a la instauración de varios formaciones fijas de jueces de distintos grados,
38
Andrés Harfuch
con asignaciones fijas de fiscales y defensores Las marchas y contramarchas de este pro-
a tribunales reunidos en “oficinas feudo”, don- ceso, afortunadamente por buen camino, es-
de el magistrado emplea el 70% de su tiempo tán a la orden del día y dan una idea exacta
en resolver cuestiones administrativas, donde acerca del inmenso valor de la reforma con-
la administración de justicia del caso se ejerce sagrada legislativamente por la provincia de
por delegación en empleados y funcionarios, y Neuquén.
en que el trabajo cotidiano se realiza en edifi-
cios donde no hay salas de audiencias. ¿Qué tiene que ver el juicio por jurados en
todo esto? Absolutamente todo. Una de las
Obvio, en un sistema sin oralidad, ¿para funciones inadvertidas del jurado es que, allí
qué construir salas de audiencias? donde se instaura en su forma clásica, pone en
crisis la estructura judicial vigente. A punto tal
Esta primera gran autocrítica al proceso de que puede decirse que entre juicio por jurados
reforma indicaba que, si bien fue posible cam- y organización judicial horizontal y colegiada
biar de código y que éste fuera entusiastamen- hay una relación inescindible.
te recibido como los nuevos vientos del cam-
bio por parte de los operadores judiciales, lo Esto explica por qué los jerarcas de la cor-
cierto es que dicho entusiasmo se evaporaba poración político-judicial de todas las latitu-
por completo, hasta pasar a la resistencia más des que se opusieron cerrilmente a la reforma
feroz, cuando se intentó mínimamente refor- de los sistemas organizativos de la inquisición
mar de cuajo también la organización judicial. pusieron todo su empeño en que no se sancio-
nara en la Argentina el triple mandato cons-
Gran parte del estancamiento del proceso titucional del juicio por jurados. Claro que
de reforma se debió, precisamente al error de siempre existieron motivos externamente más
montar los nuevos sistemas adversariales so- visibles para oponerse al jurado (que el pueblo
bre las estructuras judiciales propias del siste- no está preparado, que el derecho es sólo para
ma inquisitivo, que se mantienen vigentes en científicos, que es caro, etc.), pero los ideólo-
América desde hace cinco siglos. gos del sistema inquisitorial siempre tuvieron
muy claro este aspecto más sutil del jurado: allí
Los últimos grandes avances del proceso donde se instaurase, la organización medieval
de reforma en la región fueron, precisamente, y colonial de jueces desaparecería. Y con ella,
ir avanzando en la introducción del principio toda una forma de administrar el poder den-
de flexibilidad dentro de las estructuras de tro y fuera del propio Poder Judicial.
jueces, fiscales y defensores, destruyendo las
formaciones fijas (tribunal n° 1, tribunal n° 2, Si uno repara en que el nuevo Código de
tribunal n° 3) y en poner a todos los empleados Neuquén fue sancionado por unanimidad por
administrativos a cargo de expertos en admi- todos los bloques y que fue el fruto de un tra-
nistración y dejando que jueces, fiscales y de- bajo de tres años de una comisión interpode-
fensores cumplan exclusivamente funciones res (Poder Ejecutivo, Poder Judicial y legisla-
judiciales. dores de todos los partidos), pues entonces no
cabe más que restregarse los ojos, dejar pasar
Este intento fue –y sigue siéndolo– tremen- el estupor inicial y caer en la cuenta de que
damente catártico. La resistencia al cambio es años enteros de esfuerzo no pasaron en vano.
feroz, ya que se trata no solamente de destruir
una forma muy antigua de ejercer el poder En mi opinión personal, un sistema pro-
dentro del Poder Judicial, sino de cambiar por cesal no puede ser llamado acusatorio si no
completo un paradigma cultural organizativo. hay juicio por jurados y si no hay al menos
39
JUICIO POR JURADOS
posibilidades de que los ciudadanos puedan El nuevo juicio público neuquino recoge
ejercer, en forma más o menos amplia, la ac- en su normativa diez años de intensos cur-
ción penal. sos de litigación adversarial en toda la región
americana. En efecto, nos encontramos con
Pues bien, el nuevo CPP de Neuquén disol- un juez del juicio que, lejos de ser un fiscal
vió las formaciones fijas de jueces y estableció ad hoc, pasa a ser un juez de garantías del jui-
su colegiación horizontal, de tal modo que to- cio. Dicho juez resuelve objeciones durante el
dos los jueces neuquinos ejercerán, durante su examen directo y contraexamen de las partes,
vida judicial, todas las funciones que el Código resuelve la introducción de la prueba al juicio
pone en cabeza de los jueces penales de la pro- que intenten acreditar las partes, permite o no
vincia (control de la IPP, de la etapa interme- las declaraciones previas y garantiza que las
dia y realización del juicio). Inclusive, hasta se partes puedan litigar en un escenario de fair
animó a reconvertir la figura del “secretario” play sus teorías del caso.
como una rémora del sistema escriturario por
actas, que desperdiciaba a un letrado altamen- Finalmente, se instaura el juicio por jurado
te calificado para firmar cédulas, notificacio- de corte anglosajón para todos los delitos en
nes en expedientes y levantar actas en los es- donde se produzca la muerte de una persona
casos juicios realizados. siempre que el fiscal requiera una pena supe-
rior a quince años de prisión.
Avanzó fuertemente sobre el monopolio
del fiscal en el ejercicio de la acción penal y así, Por primera vez se regula con todo rigor
fuera de los casos ya conocidos y consagrados la fundamental audiencia de “voir dire”, o de
del querellante y particular damnificado, per- selección de los jurados, en donde las partes
mite, con ciertos límites, que cualquier ciuda- tienen amplias posibilidades para recusar con
dano pueda ejercer la acción. Se acerca así al y sin causa a varios de los jurados sorteados
único modelo conocido en el mundo del sis- hasta obtener un jurado imparcial y represen-
tema acusatorio puro como fue la accusatio o tativo de la comunidad. En la misma audiencia
quaestio de la época de la República en Roma. se sorteará a un juez profesional del colegio
de jueces que dirigirá el debate y dictará la
Estableció que el único modo de resolver sentencia.
para los jueces es la audiencia oral y pública,
aboliéndose definitivamente la escritura y el A la deliberación del jurado, secreta y con-
expediente. Cualquier decisión que tome un tinua, no podrá ingresar ninguna persona bajo
juez, lo será en audiencia y en forma oral. pena de nulidad y sólo su presidente leerá en
voz alta el veredicto una vez obtenido.
El diseño del juicio penal sigue la lógica de
un sistema tan sofisticado: prohíbe terminan- Como corresponde al sistema de jurado
temente la introducción de prueba por lectu- clásico, el veredicto del jurado es irrecurrible.
ra al debate. De tal modo, o las partes rinden Ni el fiscal ni los acusadores privados podrán
toda su prueba en la audiencia o recurren a los recurrir la sentencia absolutoria derivada de
anticipos extraordinarios de prueba previstos un veredicto de inocencia del jurado.
en las etapas anteriores para que luego sean
reproducidos visualmente en el juicio. Se pone Por el contrario, sí podrá someterse a un
fin así a casi dos siglos, tomando como fecha bis in ídem (es decir, a otro riesgo de condena)
el código napoleónico de 1801, de influencia el imputado que haya sido declarado culpable
nefasta de la prueba del expediente escrito in- por el veredicto de un jurado por las razones
troducido por lectura al juicio oral. que estipula el Código y que son las usuales en
40
Andrés Harfuch
41
JUICIO POR JURADOS
Norman Garland
Professor Norman M. Garland, Southwestern University Law School.
In the course of teaching evidence for all questions under the rubric of “relevance.”5 In
close to forty years, I have struggled with the other words, those questions of fact condition-
strange2 issues surrounding the function of ing the admissibility of evidence upon a find-
judge and jury in deciding preliminary facts ing of fact as a necessary foundation to satisfy a
to determine the admissibility of evidence, rule of law are for the judge. In contrast, those
the subject of FRE 104 3 and CEC §§ 403 and questions of fact conditioning the admissibility
405.4I have received the conventional wisdom of evidence upon a finding of fact merely6 nec-
that the judge decides all questions under the essary to establish the evidence’s relevance7 are
rubric of “competency” and the jury decides
5 Edmund M. Morgan, Functions of Judge and Jury in the
Determination of Preliminary Questions of Fact, 43 HARV.
L. REV. 165, 169 (1929). Professor Morgan’s article was a
1 Norman M. Garland & Jay A. Schmitz, Of Judges and Ju- follow-up to the article published two years earlier by Pro-
ries: A Proposed Revision of Federal Rule of Evidence 104, fessor John M. Maguire and Charles S.S. Epstein, Prelimi-
23 U.C. DAVIS L. REV. 77 (1989). I have not wavered much nary Questions of Fact in Determining the Admissibility of
from the views expressed in that article, as will be apparent Evidence, 40 HARV. L. REV. 392 (1927). Maguire and Ep-
to the reader of this essay. Here, though, I have refocused stein had focused on what they called the “orthodox rule”
on the earlier works relating to the subject, see references that required the trial judge to decide every question of fact
cited in notes 2 & 5, infra, and sought to explore the recent necessary to determine the admissibility of evidence. Their
reconsideration of the issues by the California Law Revi- seminal work noted the inconsistency of the cases in follow-
sion Commission, see the discussion in Part IV, infra. ing the orthodoxy and presented an analytical framework
2 The strangeness of the preliminary fact dichotomy is well for understanding the rule and its deviations. Morgan’s ar-
stated by the late Professor John Kaplan’s thoughtful article, ticle has been much relied upon over the decades and was
in which he utilizes the nonsense terms, mabru and zorg to the noted basis for the drafters of both the CEC and the FRE.
distinguish between those questions of fact for the judge, 6 It is the use of the term “merely” that is the key to the
Mabrus, and those questions of fact for the jury, Zorgs. John simple distinction I am drawing between judge and jury
Kaplan, Of Mabrus and Zorgs—An Essay in Honor of David questions. “Merely” in this context means that relevance
Louisell, 66 CAL. L. REV. 987 nn. 1 & 2 (1978). and relevance alone is the basis for the need to decide the
3 FED. R. EVID. 104. Many references in the text to the Fed- question of fact. See Maguire & Epstein, id., at 404; Kaplan,
eral Rules of Evidence appear as FRE followed by the rule supra note 2, at 999; JOHN M. MAGUIRE, EVIDENCE
number. COMMON SENSE AND COMMON LAW 224 (Founda-
4 CAL. EVID. CODE §§ 403 & 405 (West 2007). Many refer- tion 1947); CHARLES T. MCCORMICK, ON EVIDENCE
ences in the text to the California Evidence Code appear as § 53, at p. 125 (West 2d Ed. 1972).
CEC followed by the section number. 7 Morgan approached the dichotomy by the analysis of the
42
Norman Garland
for the jury. This formulation has a ring of utter about the proffered evidence. Otherwise, the
simplicity, and, over the years, I have developed jury would be tainted by consideration of the
some finesse in my ability to deliver the mes- evidence governed by the exclusionary rule. In
sage to students—I think. other words, the judge must be the fact-finder
My message, based on the language im- in order to ensure that the value promoted by
mediately above, is that if the preliminary the rule will be achieved, either to serve the
fact question is one, the answer to which de- gods of evidence, or some constitutional or
termines the relevance of the evidence and substantive law goal. In such a situation, just
nothing more, then the jury must have the fi- because the preliminary fact question also de-
nal word on deciding the existence of the fact. termines relevance, the judge must still be the
The simplicity of this part of the formulation fact-finder. And, the judge must be the fact-
is complicated by the reality that even when finder even if both the preliminary fact is also
the jury functions as the final arbiter of the an ultimate fact on the merits of the case and
existence of facts to determine relevance, the that fact may thus be the jury ultimately to re-
judge also has a role: to make sure that there is solve the case.
adequate evidence presented from which the I believe that the foregoing formulation
jury could find such fact to exist. works largely to explain the operation of the
The questions of fact for the judge ulti- evidence law and rules under the FRE com-
mately to determine with finality are those pletely and would work under the CEC, but
that involve more than just determining the for the CEC’s deviation from logic in allocat-
relevance of the evidence dependent upon ing the preliminary questions of the existence
the finding of the fact’s existence. In other of certain facts with respect to the authority
words, if the decision as to the fact’s existence of agents and co-conspirators (a sub-species
involves the preservation of an exclusionary of agents). I will even go so far as to say that
rule of law, either the law of evidence or sub- the drafters of the CEC got it wrong, at least
stantive or constitutional law, then the judge insofar as the theory is concerned. I believe,
must be the one to decide whether the fact as I point out in Part IV, infra, that they over-
exists, before the jury gets to hear anything looked some fundamentals. I side with the
ghosts of Professor John Kaplan and Judge
Otto Kaus in concluding that the mavens of
relevance question as one of “conditional” relevancy and
much has been written (and debated) about whether the the CEC did, in fact get it wrong.8 I say this
relevance issue is truly one of conditional relevancy or after re-reading much of the literature on the
mere relevancy. The FRE, in the language of Rule 104 it-
self deals with the notion of conditional relevancy. The full basics of preliminary fact determinations and
force of that debate is beyond the scope of this essay, but let Professor Mendez’s most recent recommenda-
it be said that I do not care if one considers the relevance
question one of conditional relevancy or relevancy gener-
tions to the California Law Revision Commis-
ally. My point is that the questions of fact that are for the sion, in which he recommends no change in
jury under 104(b), and that should be for the jury under the area that I think makes the least sense: the
CEC § 403, arise in situations where the issue presented is
one upon which relevance depends and nothing more. The determination of the preliminary facts neces-
debate about conditional relevancy, should the reader be sary for the admission of agents’ and co-con-
interested, should be traced through Vaughn C. Ball, The
Myth of Conditional Relevancy, 14 GA. L. REV. 435 (1980), spirators’ admissions.9
Dale A. Nance, Conditional Relevance Reinterpreted, 70
B.U.L. REV. 447 (1990), Ronald J. Allen, The Myth of Con-
ditional Relevancy, 25 LOY. L.A.L. REV. 871 (1992), and
Craig R. Callen, Rationality and Relevancy: Conditional 8 Otto M. Kaus, All Power to the Jury—California’s Demo-
Relevancy and Constrained Resources, 2003 MICH. ST. cratic Evidence Code, 4 LOY. L.A. L. REV. 233, 235 (1971);
L. REV. 1243 (2003). And, one of my favorites appears in Kaplan, supra note 2, at 997-99 & 1000-01; see also Nance,
Professor George Fisher’s Evidence casebook, GEORGE id., at 464-66.
FISHER, EVIDENCE 32-38 (Foundation 2002) in which he 9 Professor Mendez’s recommendations are included in
asks “Is there a there there?” in examining this literature on California Law Revision Commission, STAFF MEMO-
conditional relevancy. RANDUM 2004-19 (May 28, 2004), attached as Exhibit 3
43
JUICIO POR JURADOS
The critical difference between the recom- evidence. According to the language of Rule
mendations to the California Law Revision 104(a), those preliminary fact questions for
Commission and the CEC and the position I the judge are ones determining the admissibil-
advocate in this article, reflected in the FRE, ity of evidence generally and those concern-
is that preliminary questions in the areas of ing witness qualification and privilege.11 Other
authorization for agents and conspiracy for than the specification of witness qualification
co-conspirators though presenting condition- and privilege, the Rule gives no further clarifi-
al relevancy questions, also present questions cation about what species of questions might
that determine the application, or not, of a fall within the broader category of “admissi-
rule of evidence necessary for the admission of bility of evidence.” Subsection (b) says, how-
evidence. The recommendations to the Cali- ever, that “[w]hen the relevancy of evidence
fornia Law Revision Commission and the CEC depends upon the fulfillment of a condition
allow the jury to hear contested hearsay in de- of fact,” the question is one for the jury,12 but
ciding the existence of those preliminary facts only if the proponent of the evidence submits
that determine the application of the hear- or promises to submit evidence sufficient to
say exception that undermines the operation support a finding of the existence of the fact.
of the exclusionary force of the hearsay rule. Some preliminary fact questions are clear-
The jury should not be allowed to consider the ly determinable under one or the other of the
contested hearsay in deciding the existence of provisions, 104(a) or 104(b), either because of
these preliminary facts. the language of the rules or the comments of
In Part I, examine the treatment of prelimi- the drafters, principally in the advisory com-
nary facts under FRE 104 and judicial precedent mittee’s notes. Preliminary questions relating
interpreting the rule. In Part II, I examine the
theory from which the federal rule developed.
In Part III, I focus on the theory underlying governed by Rule 104. A closer examination, however,
the allocation of functions for agents’ and co- suggests that Rule 104 addresses consideration only of de-
termination of facts preliminary to the admission of evi-
conspirators’ admissions. In Part IV I consider dence. Hence, for example, the question of the relevance of
the CEC procedure affecting preliminary facts evidence presented by the standards of rules 401, 402, and
403, are to be decided by the judge consistent with those
for agents’ and co-conspirators’ admissions and rules, and having no reference to the provisions of Rule 104.
the criticisms of the procedure. Finally, in Part See, Allen, supra note 7, at 881-82. See also, Edward J. Im-
winkelried, Preliminary Fact Finding under Rule 104, CALI
V, I test the critics’ tests. Lesson, at question 22 and answer; available on the web
at http://www2.cali.org/index.php?fuseaction=lessons.
lessondetail&lid=536. It is particularly difficult to get this
point across to students; Professor Imwinkelried’s CALI
I. Preliminary Facts under the FRE lesson does a noticeably fine job of doing so.
11 Such preliminary fact questions “shall be determined by
the court,” albeit “subject to the provisions of subdivision
Federal Rule of Evidence 104 sets forth a (b).” This “subject to” language, I have come to believe,
modifies the reference to “the court,” thereby making clear
scheme, or system, for dealing with prelimi-
that the judge continues to function even with respect to
nary facts10 that determine the admissibility of preliminary fact questions committed to the jury under
subsection (b).
12 The word “jury” does not appear in the Rule. Students have
sometimes had trouble understanding the division of func-
thereto, is Miguel A. Mendez, California Evidence Code— tions of judge and jury contemplated by Rule 104 because of
Federal Rules of Evidence III. The Role of Judge and Jury: this. Even a quick reading of the advisory committee’s notes
Conforming the Evidence Code to the Federal Rules, 37 accompanying the Rule, especially the note to 104(b) should
U.S.F.L. REV. 1003 (2003). alleviate this confusion. The note is clear, except for a seem-
10 FRE 104 is headed “Preliminary Questions” and subdivi- ing error when the committee note concludes: “If after all
sion (a) is headed “Questions of admissibility generally.” the evidence on the issue is in, pro and con, the jury could
FED. R. EVID. 104. The first clause of Rule 104(a) says, as reasonably conclude that fulfillment of the condition is not
does the title of the Rule, “preliminary questions concern- established, the issue is for them.” FED. R. EVID. 104(b), ad-
ing...” From this, it might appear that all preliminary is- visory committee’s note, emphasis added. The word “not”
sues arising concerning the admissibility of evidence are should not be there. See Fisher, supra note 7.
44
Norman Garland
to invocation or application of privilege are for be resolved by the [trial] court.”20 In the case,
the judge. Qualification to be a witness, par- the pressing issues related to whether, and to
ticularly with respect to qualifying as an ex- what extent, the trial judge could engage in
pert witness,13 also present questions of fact bootstrapping to decide those preliminary fact
for the judge.14 questions. The Court resolved that, indeed, the
The fact of a witness’s personal knowledge,15 trial judge could utilize the contested evidence
all manner of facts relating authentication16 of itself in deciding the existence of the facts nec-
documents, objects, voices, and handwriting, essary to admit that contested evidence; that is,
and the fact of the existence of a writing,17 engage in the process known as bootstrapping.21
or status as an original or correct reflection On the question whether the trial judge
of the contents of writings, recordings, or could engage in total bootstrapping22—the
photographs,18 are all for the jury, according to finding of the preliminary facts with no inde-
the language of the pertinent rule or the advi- pendent evidence whatsoever, relying solely
sory committee’s notes to the rules. No other on the content of the disputed evidence, the
provisions of the rules or comments by the Court concluded it “need not decide [that
drafters suggest what other preliminary ques- question] in this case . . . .”23 The Court went
tions might be for the jury under Rule 104(b). on to conclude that hearsay admissible under
Supreme Court precedent provides guid- such bootstrapped preliminary determina-
ance as to how some other preliminary fact tions by the trial court was admissible under
questions should be treated under Rule 104. the prevailing “firmly rooted” analysis for
In United States v. Bourjaily,19 the Court, with- Confrontation Clause purposes24 dictated by
out any discussion, observed that both parties Ohio v. Roberts.25
agreed “that the existence of a conspiracy and
petitioner’s involvement in it are preliminary 20 Id. at 175.
questions of fact that, under Rule 104, must 21 The Court attributes the first reference by the Court to the
term “bootstrapping” to Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S.
60, 75 (1942): if a co-conspirator’s statements could be ad-
missible against an accused without “proof aliunde” that he
13 he Supreme Court’s decisions in this area, in fact, refer to is connected with the conspiracy, “hearsay would lift itself
the trial judge as the gatekeeper in determining admissibil- by its own bootstraps to the level of competent evidence.”
ity of evidence of expert opinion. See, e.g., Kumho Tire Co., The Glasser Court cited no source for the bootstraps refer-
Ltd. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137, 145 (1999). ence. There is some reference in earlier cases to the term
14 But what else might come within the “qualification” to be a in connection with cases involving failed credit, see, e.g.,
witness language of Rule 104(a)? Competency of witnesses Townsend v. United States, 106 F.2d 273, 275 (3d Cir. 1939).
under the FRE is no longer an issue for the most part, except In fact, however, there is a “boot straps” reference in Magu-
for judges, per Rule 605, and jurors, per Rule 606. Personal ire and Epstein’s article, at the very end, in the last footnote
knowledge is not a qualification question for the judge, see referring to Wigmore’s advocacy of the principle that in
FED. R. EVID. 602, advisory committee’s note. All other mat- making a factual determination upon which admissibility
ters relating to witness capacity are not, under the FRE, mat- of evidence depends, the trial judge the “ordinary rules of
ters of competency for the judge. The requirement of oath or evidence do not apply.” Maguire & Epstein, supra, note 5, at
affirmation by a witness, see FED. R. EVID. 603, seems to call 429-30, nn. 104 & 105. “If the rule quoted from Wigmore is
for an administrative function, at most, by the court. Contrast correct, it goes a long way toward explaining many cases in
CAL. EVID. CODE §§ 700 & 702 (West 2007), defining com- which evidence seems to lift itself by its own boot straps.”
petency as encompassing the ability to be understood and 22 FED. R. EVID. 801(d)(2) was amended, effective 1997, to pro-
understanding the obligation to tell the truth, both matters of hibit total bootsrapping by the trial judge in determining the
capacity, not competency under the FRE. preliminary questions of authority of agents and the existence
15 FED. R. EVID. 602, advisory committee’s note, ¶ 1: “It will of a conspiracy and participation in it by the declarant and
be observed that the rule is in fact a specialized application opponent of the evidence for the co-conspirators exception.
of the provisions of Rule 104(b) on conditional relevancy.” 23 Bourjaily, 483 U.S. at 181. FED. R. EVID. 801(d)(2) was
16 FED. R. EVID. 901(a), advisory committee’s note ¶ 2: “The amended in 1997 to prevent total bootstrapping on the pre-
requirement of showing authenticity or identity falls in the liminary questions of the authority for agents’ statements
category of relevancy dependent upon fulfillment of a con- and conspiracy for co-conspirators’ statements, the amend-
dition of fact and is governed by the procedure set forth in ment having been designed in specific response to the
Rule 104(b).” Court’s reservation of decision on the issue. See id. advisory
17 ED. R. EVID. 901(b). committee’s note to the 1997 amendment ¶ 2.
18 Fed. R. Evid. 1008(a)-(c). 24 Bourjaily, 483 U.S. at 182-3.
19 483 U.S. 171 (1987). 25 448 U.S. 56 (1980).
45
JUICIO POR JURADOS
46
Norman Garland
at the time, prevented the witness from testi- Professor Morgan’s seminal article ap-
fying. The prosecution further demanded that proved the work of Maguire and Epstein, but
the trial judge make the preliminary finding presented some “different interpretation of
as to the existence of the marital relationship. some decisions” and “a slightly different ap-
The trial judge decided the fact, found the re- proach to some of the problems.” 42 He stated
lationship existed, and “rejected the witness.” the rule to be: “On theory, then, where the
The defendant’s argument that he was entitled relevancy of A depends upon the existence of
to a jury decision on the “identification of the B, the existence of B should normally be for
accused as the person who committed the the jury; where the competency of A depends
crime . . .” was rejected by the courts.37 Magu- upon the existence of B, the existence of B
ire and Epstein are critical of this result, not- should always be for the judge.”43 He then re-
ing that a finding of other “error necessitating viewed the authorities finding them to be of
a new trial scarcely softens the result . . . . The “’variegated inconsistency’”44 principally not-
evidential ruling was likely to deprive the de- ing that within the judge’s realm of compe-
fense of its very best witness on retrial.”38 tency determinations “where it [the evidence]
A contrasting case analyzed next by Magu- is such that a trier of fact might reasonably
ire and Epstein is Hitchens v. Eardley, 39 a “well- find either way, the cases show the orthodox
known pedigree case” according to Maguire rule in the process of dissolution . . . .”45 Much
and Epstein. In their view and approval, the of Morgan’s article takes apart the analyses
trial judge himself resolved the preliminary of cases dealing with grounds for witnesses’
fact question in this case where the evidence incompetency and privilege and, at the end,
was offered within an exception to the hear- he advocates for the repeal of those rules of
say rule40 and disallowed the opposing party’s incompetency though some common law
attempt to introduce countervailing evidence privileges, he thought, might be preserved.46
on the issue. Maguire and Epstein distinguish In the analysis leading to this conclusion and
the two cases on the basis that when the rule in his later writing, however, I think Morgan
of “disability or incompetency of a witness” is got the nub of the distinction with clarity. In
imposed, the issue does not just address wit- his BASIC PROBLEMS OF EVIDENCE47 he
ness credibility, but also, as in the case at hand, describes conditional relevance giving two
the rule seeks to preserve the marital relation- examples. First, M is charged with killing X
ship, whereas the hearsay rule invoked in the and the fact that X carried life insurance nam-
later case “has for its sole object the protection ing M beneficiary is “entirely irrelevant unless
of jurors from unveracious evidence.”41 M knew of it.” Second, P sues D for breach of
contract and tenders evidence of an oral offer
made to X and accepted by X on behalf of D.
37 Id. at 409. The “offer and acceptance are irrelevant un-
38 Id. at 409-10.
less X’s authority to act for D also exists. In
39 L.R. 2 P. & D 248 (1871), as cited and discussed in Magu-
ire & Epstein, id. at pp. 410-13 and characterized as a case each of these situations fact A is irrelevant
in “contrast” to Lee. Professor Morgan discusses this case without fact B.”48 Morgan points out that the
extensively, reaching a different conclusion from Maguire
and Epstein. See Morgan, supra, note 5, at pp. 183-85, n.35.
Though it is difficult to describe his conclusion with preci-
sion, he apparently thought, contrary to Maguire and Ep- 42 Morgan, supra note 5, at 165 n. *.
stein, that the trial court in Hitchens made only a provisional 43 Id. at 169.
decision, leaving it to the jury to disregard the evidence if it 44 Id. at 170, citing JOHN H. WIGMORE, 3 WIGMORE, EVI-
did not find the fact to exist. DENCE (2d ed. 1923) § 1644(2).
40 Maguire & Epstein, at p. 411. The preliminary question was 45 Id. at 175.
whether the declarant of a contested statement was a member 46 Id. at 190.
of the family of the testatrix, and the statements of the declar- 47 Morgan, BASIC PROBLEMS OF EVIDENCE (Inst. CLE
ant apparently asserted he was a member of the family. 1961).
41 Id. 48 Id. at 46. The examples herein appear in the 1961 edition of
47
JUICIO POR JURADOS
preliminary facts in both of these hypotheti- The Supreme Court approved of the de-
cals present a question: cision, affirming that the preliminary fact
. . . of the kind customarily answered by a question was one for the judge, not the jury.
jury; no rule of policy applicable to evidence Morgan’s description of this decision in his
requires the exclusion of this sort of evi- 1929 article asserts only: “The only possible
dence or forbids its consideration by the jury. ground for excluding this evidence was its ir-
. . . Consequently where the only objection to relevancy.” 53 Yet, Morgan’s principal example
the admissibility is lack of relevance, it seems of conditional relevancy cited in the advisory
clear that the function of the judge should be committee’s note accompanying FRE 104(b) is
to see to it only that sufficient evidence of each a hypothetical suspiciously similar to the Gila
is introduced to justify a finding of its exis- Valley case.54 Maguire, in his Evidence, Com-
tence and the jury should determine the dis- mon Sense and Common Law is far less tact-
pute as to each under proper instruction from ful: “The Supreme Court of the United States
the judge.49 approved this ruling, saying that the finding
There is one further, pre-FRE, Supreme of fact was to be made by the trial judge, and
Court precedent that merits consideration, manifesting complete ignorance of the differ-
and it is discussed by Maguire and Epstein, ence between problems of relevance and of
Morgan, and then Maguire alone: the case of technical incompetency with respect to such
Gila Valley, Globe & Northern Ry. V. Hall.50 findings.”55
The reference to the case in the Maguire and Numerous other preliminary fact ques-
Epstein piece treats it rather kindly, noting tions that arise in application of the rules of
that the decision is at variance with the au- evidence present the same issue of division
thors’ conclusion about one-sided cases, con- of function of judge and jury. Closely aligned
cluding in a footnote: “The opinion does not with the questions presented in the arena of
make clear who should have decided the ques- co-conspirators’ statements, are those pre-
tion of communication if there had been a real liminary to the admissibility of adoptive ad-
conflict of evidence.51 The case was this: missions. The hearsay exception at common
[P]laintiff sued for damages on account of law, and exemption (as non-hearsay) under
personal injuries sustained when a railroad ve- the Federal Rules, requires that a person’s
locipede ran off the track. Defendant claimed manifestation of intent to “adopt, agree with,
contributory negligence, and offered evidence or approve of the contents of the statement of
that the day before the accident a conversation another as a precondition to the admissibility
occurred during which a cracked wheel-flange of evidence offered under” that exception or
on the velocipede was mentioned within pos- exemption.56 For example, to borrow a hypo-
sible range of plaintiff’s hearing (within twen- thetical from Professor Kaplan:
ty yards of him according to the description Prosecution of D for rape. Witness, W,
appearing in Maguire and Epstein’s article). wishes to testify that while he sat in a bar with
Evidence of the remark about the wheel was D, the prosecutrix’s father, F, entered, pointed
excluded on the ground that plaintiff was not at D and said: “You are the man who attacked
proved to have heard it.52
48
Norman Garland
my daughter,” but that D made no reply.57 the fact it asserts, but only to show that he did
In order for this evidence to be relevant, D or did not admit.”61 The point is that the prob-
must have heard the accusation, and it must be lem inherent in such preliminary fact question
the case that the circumstances were such that scenarios is one that involves conditional rel-
if the accusation were untrue, D would have evancy plus, the plus being the necessary deter-
denied it.58 These facts, upon which relevance mination whether the policy of an exclusionary
depends, can be decided by the jury, no doubt— rule of law or evidence can be furthered. The
and Professor Kaplan concludes that these are policy of the hearsay rule prohibits statements
questions for the jury. So, the pre-FRE law from being considered for their truth unless
similarly treated such questions as ones for the certain requirements are met: here, the foun-
jury.59 He also notes, however, “that the prob- dation for an adoptive admission. To allow the
lem is somewhat more complex than this . . . ” jury to hear the statement in order to find the
and proceeds to argue that allowing the jury to basis for whether the evidence is relevant de-
hear the father’s accusation while deciding the feats the operation of the exclusionary rule and
whether he admitted it, would be unrealistic.60 the purpose behind it.62
Surely, he asserts, “the jury would, of course,
ignore the judge’s instructions that F’s state-
ment should not be considered for the truth of III. Admissions by Agents and
Co-conspirators 63
49
JUICIO POR JURADOS
article where the authors, while examining competency, of which hearsay is surely one,
the permutations of deviations from the or- is the sole determiner of those preliminary
thodox rule, reference cases dealing with the facts according to the orthodox rule. Morgan
“admissibility of declarations by one or some points out that if the evidence as to B “is such
of a group of alleged conspirators against the as to require a particular finding, no difficulty
whole group . . .” and “hearsay assertions of an arises. But where it is such that a trier of fact
alleged agent” to prove agency.65 might reasonably find either way,” the state of
Morgan, in his 1929 article picks up the the law, particularly as explored by Maguire
thread of the reference to agent and conspira- and Epstein, shows the orthodox rule, to be in
tor statements as the starting point for a blis- a process of dissolution in at least four stages.70
tering criticism of departure from the ortho- Morgan then notes that the fourth stage of
dox rule.66 It is this criticism that I think forms dissolution, the worst stage, is where “the trial
the most viable argument for the allocation judge is required to admit A unconditionally.”71
to the judge of preliminary questions related His condemnation of this result is most direct:
to the admissibility of agent and conspirator Such a rule means total abandonment of
statements. The result of Morgan’s criticism is exclusionary rules wherever their applicability
his conclusion thereafter expressed by him67 depends upon the decision of a preliminary
and others68 that, to preserve the exclusionary question of fact. It means in cases in which
rule (the hearsay rule), the preliminary facts the exclusion is based on dangers of false valu-
that must be found to exist for a statement by ation that while a jury cannot be trusted to
an alleged agent or conspirator to be admis- evaluate A where B does not exist, it can be
sible against an alleged principal or co-con- trusted to do so where the existence of B is in
spirator, are for the judge, not the jury, to find. dispute.72
Remember, the orthodox rule is that According to Morgan the sole application
“where the competency of A depends upon of this worst stage principle “is where the pre-
the existence of B, the judge alone shall de- liminary fact B, upon which the competency
termine the existence of B.”69 So for our dis- of A depends, coincides with an ultimate fact
cussion, where the admissibility of a claimed for the jury.”73 Further, he asserts, within the
agent’s or co-conspirator’s statement depends class of such cases, the phenomenon “is ex-
upon the existence of the agency relationship hibited chiefly in situations where A is the
or conspiracy, the judge, as arbiter of rules of declaration of an alleged conspirator or agent
offered against his alleged fellow conspirator
or principal.”74 He supposed that such “serious
65 Id. at 418, n.78.
66 Morgan, supra note 5, at 183-89.
67 Morgan, BASIC PROBLEMS, supra note 47, at 282: The ad- 70 Id.
missibility of a vicarious admission depends upon the rela- 71 Id. at p. 176.
tionship of the declarant to the party against whom the dec- 72 Id. at p. 177.
laration is offered in evidence. Speaking generally where the 73 Id. at p. 183
relationship is one of agency, the courts usually hold that the 74 Id. Professor Morgan again references the Maguire and Ep-
question of the declarant’s authority to speak for the party is stein article and cases collected therein as the basis for his
a preliminary question for the judge. In the case of alleged observations. Id. at n.34. Following the footnote reference
co- conspirators, if the declaration of one is offered against to those cases Morgan offers a curious possible explana-
the others, its admissibility depends upon a preliminary tion for courts’ admitting the evidence (A) “uncondition-
finding of conspiracy by the trial judge. But since in most ally.” He says:
instances this preliminary question coincides with an ulti- These decisions may be explained by the court’s [sic] failure
mate question for the jury, the decisions frequently admit to distinguish between the declarations offered for their
the declarations after a showing which would justify the jury assertive value and the non-verbal acts and declarations
in finding a conspiracy. These observations are supported by offered as constitutive conduct for which the conspirator
a footnote reference to the 1927 Maguire and Epstein and or principal is alleged to be responsible. In the latter situ-
1929 Morgan articles, supra note 5. ations, the question is one of relevancy only, and both A
68 See Kaus, supra note 8 and Kaplan, supra note 2. and B properly go to the jury where there is a dispute in
69 Morgan, supra, note 5 at 175. the testimony. The opinions frequently intermingle “acts
50
Norman Garland
departures from the orthodox rule” resulted evidence, such as the hearsay rule, and that
from the desire to promote trial by jury and rule is valid, “there is no plausible or substan-
to avoid “judge-made” decisions.75 But, Profes- tial reason for discriminating between such
sor Morgan elegantly rejects such grounds for cases [e.g., directed verdict] and those where a
reaching a conclusion that denudes exclusion- preliminary [fact] investigation is necessary.”79
ary rules of their force. To the argument that decision by the judge
First, he points out that frequently a liti- on preliminary questions for admissibility of
gant only has access to incompetent evidence evidence purposes usurps the function of the
to support his case, incompetent under ei- jury, Morgan concludes:
ther statute or common law rule;76 and, we There never was a time when every ques-
may add today, incompetent under constitu- tion of fact arising in a lawsuit was to be decid-
tional principle.77 In the situation that a liti- ed by the jury; nor has there been a time since
gant’s case cannot be made because based on the jury has been required to base its findings
incompetent evidence that does not depend upon evidence submitted in open court, when
upon a preliminary fact determination, “no it has been privileged to hear and consider all
court allows itself to be influenced by this relevant evidence. There is nothing inherently
consideration.”78 Motions to dismiss for fail- objectionable in a judge-made decision.80
ure to state a claim, on summary judgment, There is an argument that when the pre-
for directed verdict, or the criminal equiva- liminary and ultimate facts overlap, since the
lent of judgment of acquittal, are granted all jury must ultimately find the ultimate fact, it
the time because of a failure of the proponent does not matter that the jury gets to decide
to promise or tender competent evidence. If preliminarily. Morgan responds to this: “This
then, the basis for finding evidence incompe- overlooks the very gist of the question.”81 He
tent is the existence of an exclusionary rule of points out that: “To decide B [the preliminary
fact] on evidence exclusive of A [the disputed
evidence] is quite a different thing from decid-
and declarations” and rely upon Greenleaf’s confused and
confusing characterization of the alleged representative’s ing B with the helpful or harmful influence of
conduct as “original evidence.” A. If A without B is improper provender for
Id. The quote is supported by an extensive footnote that
mainly discusses the Hitchens decision, but does not further the jury, its prejudicial effect is not at all re-
reference Greenleaf. The gist of the quote makes sense in duced by the circumstances that B is one of
the context of agents’ and conspirators’ statements. If such
statements are offered to prove the very act in question, e.g., the issues on the merits.”82 Morgan’s ultimate
the offer of contract or the robber’s threat, then the state- conclusion with respect to this subject is: “In
ments are verbal “acts,” are not hearsay, and the only pre-
liminary fact question is whether they were uttered by the short, there is no argument for departure
person claimed to be the agent or co- conspirator. This also from the orthodox practice which does not
assumes the existence of other evidence of the other pre-
liminary facts relating to the agency or conspiracy.
strike at the validity of the exclusionary rules
75 Id., at 184-85. I grossly simplify Morgan’s rationalization themselves.”83
but the point is essentially as stated.
76 Id., at 186.
77 Morgan’s examination of the first stage of dissolution from
the orthodox rule in Part III of his 1929 article, id., at 176, is
the Massachusetts procedure for dealing with confessions in
criminal cases approved by the Supreme Court in Jackson v. 79 Id.
Denno, 378 U.S. 368, 380 n.8 (1964), which also condemned 80 Id.
the New York procedure allowing the judge to pass the vol- 81 Id.
untariness question to the jury without first deciding the 82 Id. at pp. 186-87. To a further argument, that the jury might
question himself, where reasonable minds might differ. The disagree with the judge on the preliminary fact (overlapping
difference in the Massachusetts procedure is that the trial with the ultimate fact), if they were able to decide it, Morgan
judge must first make his own determination that the con- responds: “Well, what of it?” Id. at p. 187. “There is... no re-
fession is voluntary before passing the same question to the quirement at all that judge and jury shall agree on ultimate
jury for reconsideration. Jackson v. Denno raised the issue of facts...” as long as both adhere to their jobs in accordance
voluntariness of a confession to constitutional dimension. with the proper allocation of functions. Id. at 187-88.
78 Id. at p. 186. 83 Id. at 189 (footnote omitted).
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JUICIO POR JURADOS
Professor Kaplan addresses the prelimi- by CEC § 403.89 Moreover, CEC § 1222, stating
nary questions for conspirators’ admissions’ the hearsay exception for authorized admis-
in his article, 84 but he does so by contrasting sions, and CEC § 1223, stating the hearsay ex-
the treatment under the FRE with the treat- ception for co- conspirators’ statements, both
ment under the CEC. So, let us turn to the specify that such evidence is admissible upon
CEC treatment of preliminary facts in those or subject to “admission of evidence sufficient
instances. to sustain a finding” of the preliminary facts.90
Professor Mendez concludes: “Reasonable peo-
ple might differ on whether the foundational
IV. Admissions of Agents and Co- facts for this hearsay exception should be pro-
Conspirators under the CEC vided by a sufficiency or higher standard,”91
citing Professor Kaplan’s article as “arguing
Professor Mendez, in his article relied upon that the foundational facts of the hearsay ex-
by the California Law Revision Commission, 85 ception for co-conspirators’ statements should
characterizes the difference between Califor- be governed by section 405 since jurors are
nia’s treatment of the division of functions on unlikely to engage in the required fact finding
preliminary questions as a use of a “sufficiency before considering the statement.92
standard” in CEC § 403, versus a “higher stan- Professor Kaplan explored the issues in
dard” under CEC § 405.86 He asserts that “[s] connection with a series of hypotheticals, with
cholars disagree” on when that difference in one that presented the basic co-conspirator’s
“standard” should be used and then asserts that statement problem:
the CEC “avoids the controversy by describing Prosecution of D for aiding and abetting a
the particular kinds of preliminary fact issues bank robbery. W testifies that he (W) was in
governed” by the respective sections.87 In ad- on the plan and that, to bolster his (W’s) cour-
dition, specific sections of the Code and the age, A, his coconspirator told him, “You know
comments accompanying sections 403 and D is an excellent driver. Well, D told me he’ll
405 specify and list the particular kinds of be waiting outside the bank with the motor
preliminary questions governed by each sec- going.93
tion respectively. Remember, CEC § 403 is the After citing CEC § 1223, and “temporar-
counterpart to FRE 104(b) and CEC § 405 is ily put[ting] aside the problem of what to do
the counterpart to FRE 104(a). So, the result when the crime charged is conspiracy so that
of the commitment of CEC § 403 preliminary the preliminary question and ultimate ques-
fact questions to the sufficiency standard is to tion are the same,” Kaplan concludes, “[s]
delegate the function of ultimate fact-finding urely, in principle [the] section, which makes
on such questions to the jury, not the judge.88 the preliminary fact questions . . . [jury ques-
Whether a party has authorized or adopted tions], is in error.”94 He bases this conclusion
an admission and whether a conspiracy exists on the reasoning that the “jury will likely give
for admissibility of a co-conspirator’s admis- short shrift to” the preliminary fact ques-
sion, are preliminary fact questions governed tions; the jury is likely to “ignore our hearsay
rule and decide whether to give the statement
52
Norman Garland
weight depending on whether they think A it does not. Why is this so? And, what of the
was knowledgeable and truthful, regardless of more problematical scenario where the de-
whether he was a coconspirator.”95 This was fendant is charged with conspiracy as well as
the very point made by Professor Morgan in the substantive crime, in which case the jury
condemning this procedure for placing upon will necessarily, under California procedure,
the jury “impossible burdens of deciding is- hear the disputed evidence in deciding the
sues of fact upon which admissibility depends” preliminary questions necessary for them to
and leading ultimately to abandonment of the consider that very evidence: in other words
exclusionary rules.96 the issue presented in Bourjaily that led the
At the very least, the California proce- United States Supreme Court to reaffirm the
dure, applied to this hypothetical, even in the functions of judge and jury in this arena under
most common type of case—where A was FRE 104.100
clearly a conspirator but defendant’s status as Before answering the question about boot-
a conspirator is disputed—permits the jury to strapping, let us turn back to Professor Kaplan
bootstrap,97 a result that is denied even to the and his further consideration of the California
judge under current California law.98 Note- procedure in a slightly different context. He
worthy is the fact that the Commission con- points out that in connection with the hearsay
cluded that the bootstrapping problem is not exception for authorized admissions, closely
an issue under California law with respect to related to the co-conspirator’s exception, the
“the admissibility of co-conspirator hearsay . CEC “reaches the indefensible result of allow-
. . because California law generally provides ing the preliminary fact to be ignored com-
that the preliminary fact necessary for admis- pletely.” CEC § 1222(b) makes the question of
sion of admissions . . . are subject to sufficiency authorization one for the jury.101 Kaplan notes
review under Section 403.”99 Surely, the Com- that a rational jury will pay no attention to
mission should see that the result of allowing the “artificial preliminary fact requirement of
the conditional relevancy determination by authorization” in “the usual case” where “the
the jury on the “sufficiency of evidence” stan- truck driver’s statement as to his own negli-
dard results in bootstrapping! But, apparently gence probably should be admissible against
his employer even if he was not authorized.”102
Interestingly, the CEC allows the jury to hear
95 Id. Professor Kaplan points out that “where the declarant, such statements in a larger number of cases
A, was clearly a conspirator and the disputed preliminary than the common-law and California author-
fact question is whether the defendant, D, was also a mem-
ber of the conspiracy,” the California error is not so seri- ity rule would otherwise require, but that re-
ous because if “D’s guilt of bank robbery were based on his sult is not because of the law’s definition of the
membership in the conspiracy, and the jury did not believe
him to have been a conspirator, it would acquit him.” Then,
hearsay exception, and “the proper remedy is
“it would be hard to get upset about whether or not the to change the exception.”103 Moreover, when
jury improperly considered A’s hearsay statement as to D’s
guilt.” Id. at 997-98.
96 Morgan, supra note 5, at 175-76.
97 Professor Kaplan points out, following the quoted observa- 100 See discussion accompanying notes 19-24, supra.
tion in note 95, supra, that “the other possibility that many 101 CAL. EVID. CODE § 1222(b) and CAL. EVID. CODE §
find upsetting... the jurors would believe D to be guilty in 403, assembly committee on judiciary comment.
part because they considered A’s hearsay statement on this 102 Kaplan, supra note 2, at 999 (footnote omitted).
[D’s membership in the conspiracy] issue.” Kaplan, supra 103 Id. The FRE counterpart to CEC § 1222 is FED. R. EVID.
note 2, at 998. 801(d)(2)(C) & (D). Under FRE 801(d)(2)(D), the authority
98 Mendez, note 9, at p. 1021: “The rules of evidence apply to need be only to act, not speak. Hence, though the prelim-
hearings on the admissibility of evidence under sections inary fact question regarding the authority still is for the
403 and 405.” The California Law Revision Commission judge under FRE 104(a), the narrower common-law and
staff has tentatively recommended the Code be revised to CEC restriction on agents’ admissions being admissible
conform to federal law on this issue. California Law Revi- on specific authority to speak will not likely keep the evi-
sion, supra note 10, at 8. dence from the jury under the CEC procedure, as pointed
99 California Law Revision Commission, supra note 10 at p. 7. out in the text, above. Nonetheless, it is a puzzlement why
53
JUICIO POR JURADOS
the proponent of the agent (the truck driver in a statement is not authorized by a party or it
our example) has no evidence of authority to is not made in furtherance of a conspiracy of
speak, “even the treatment of the question as . which the defendant is a part, then it is inad-
. . [one for the jury] will not help produce the missible because irrelevant. Questions of con-
‘correct’ result of admitting the statement.”104 ditional relevance are for the jury to determine
Professor Kaplan points out the result of the under Section 403.”110 The critical point of de-
California procedure “allows the jury to hear parture between the Commission’s observa-
what may be unauthorized statements, even” tions here and the analysis of Professors Ma-
where most persons willing to enforce the guire and Epstein, Morgan, and Kaplan,111 and
hearsay rule would deny those statements ad- Judge Kaus, as well as this author, is that the
missibility.105 He proclaims: “In this case, at preliminary questions in such cases, though
least, two wrongs do not make a right.”106 presenting conditional relevancy questions,
Let us turn back to the question why the also present questions that determine the ap-
Commission does not see that the CEC pro- plication, or not, of a rule of evidence. These
cedure leads to jury bootstrapping when the questions are not relevancy112 questions only.
Code does not permit judge bootstrapping. In Therefore, allowing the jury to hear the con-
its latest staff memorandum,107 the Commis- tested hearsay in deciding the existence of
sion gives the reasons why it poses no recom- those preliminary facts that determine the
mendation to bring the CEC in line with the application of the hearsay exception abrogates
FRE on the preliminary questions in the ar- the operation of the exclusionary force of the
eas of authorization for agents and conspiracy hearsay rule if the jury considers the contested
for co-conspirators. The memorandum first hearsay in deciding the existence of the pre-
quotes Professor Mendez’s assertion that “rea- liminary facts. And, there is nothing to ensure
sonable people might differ on whether the that the jury will not do so, nor is it reasonable
foundational facts for this hearsay exception to think that the sufficiency test for the judge
should be proved by a sufficiency or higher and a limiting instruction to the jury will re-
standard.”108 As previously noted, this over- solve the problem.
looks the fact that the effect of the shift of the The Commission concludes that the proce-
preliminary facts to the jury is not merely a dure “has been the law in California for over
matter of choice of standards of proof; rather, 37 years . . . . Neither Professor Mendez nor
it is a shift of fact-finding function. Professor Friedenthal are recommending sub-
Second, the Commission cites and relies stantive change to that approach.” And, final-
upon a 1976 “study” by Professor Jack Frie- ly: “While the staff sees merit in the criticism
denthal.109 The body of the Commission’s
memorandum cites this study and says that 110 California Law Revision Commission, supra note 107, at
Professor Friedenthal “describes the admis- 10 (emphasis in the original), citing Friedenthal, supra
note 109, at 46-47, 50. Of some interest is that Professor
sibility of an authorized admission as turning
Friedenthal also stated, in the same section of his study
on a question of conditional relevance, i.e., if that FED. R. EVID. 104(b) “is generally identical with §
403(1).” Id. at 46.
111 The Commission, in the memorandum, pays lip service
to Professor Kaplan’s criticism, observing that he “makes
the CEC reaches this result in such a roundabout way. a good point,” but asserts that the judge’s screening for
104 Kaplan, supra note 2, at 999. sufficiency and the availability of an instruction to disre-
105 Id. gard the contested hearsay if the jury fails to find the pre-
106 Id. liminary facts “help to ameliorate the problem [Professor
107 California Law Revision Commission, STAFF MEMO- Kaplan] described.” California Law Revision Commission,
RANDUM 2004-55 (November 8, 2004). supra note 107 at 11.
108 Id. at p. 10, citing Mendez, supra, note 9. 112 I have refrained from calling the relevance questions “con-
109 JACK FRIEDENTHAL, Analysis of Differences Between ditional” relevance questions, in order to avoid the dispute
the Federal Rules of Evidence and the California Evidence over the existence of conditional relevance. See discussion
Code (Jan. 1976) (on file with the Commission). in note 7, supra.
54
Norman Garland
offered by Professor Kaplan, it isn’t clear that the forms were admissible within the business
the problem he describes is actually creat- records exception,116 but the Court of Appeals
ing practical difficulties significant enough rejected this argument because there was no
to warrant reversal of long-standing law.”113 I foundational evidence that the source of the
suppose that continuing rules and procedures critical information contained in the business
that are inconsistent with history, doctrine, form was a person with a business duty to re-
and theory on the ground that no significant port. The forms were filled out by the Western
practical difficulties have arisen is a practical Union employees, from information transmit-
resolution. ted orally by the customer. Under the familiar
V. Conclusion: A Test of the Critics’ Tests— doctrine of Johnson v. Lutz,117 the forms thus
Preliminary Fact of Identity of the Declarant failed as business records.118
Who, judge or jury, decides the identity of In order for the evidence to be admissible,
the declarant to determine whether a prof- the declarant—here the customer securing
fered statement is admissible as an admission the money order would have to be shown to be
by a party opponent, poses one of the most the defendant. Hence, the critical preliminary
challenging issues under the principles dis- fact question upon which admissibility de-
cussed in this essay. The answer to that ques- pended was the identity of the declarant. The
tion is not so clear under the FRE and, under only evidence of that was the content of the
the CEC is treated too simply. Let us consid- forms themselves: the government presented
er a fairly recent case and two hypotheticals no independent evidence that the 21 forms
posed by Professor Kaplan114 in addressing were obtained by Vigneau.
this problem. The Vigneau court noted that if there were
The case is United States v. Vigneau,115 in- independent evidence that the defendant
volving conviction of the defendant of vari- wrote the forms (or supplied the information
ous charges stemming from his participation inserted by the Western Union agent), the
in a drug distribution scheme. He allegedly statements would be admissible as party-op-
engaged in money laundering as part of the ponent admissions. The court also noted that
charged drug transactions and scheme. The whether the defendant “signed the form may
government introduced against the defendant be governed by Fed. R. Evid. 104(b) as a matter
21 Western Union “To Send Money” forms, of conditional relevance.”119 And, if the issue
filled out with defendant’s name, address, and were whether the information was supplied by
telephone number, each form supporting a Vigneau, if the government had presented cir-
money order which the sender sent, according cumstantial evidence to that effect, sufficient
to the government, to launder money derived for a jury to so find, that too might have been
from the drug scheme. The Court of Appeals admissible under FRE 104(b).120
reversed the conviction, finding that the ad- The Vigneau court was surely wrong that
mission into evidence of the “To Send Money” the preliminary fact question of the identity
forms was error. The government argued that of the declarant in the case before it was one
55
JUICIO POR JURADOS
that would have been for the jury, if there had the statement critical to the case, whoever said
been any evidence sufficient to support a jury it and would not “have much interest in what,
finding as to defendant being the supplier of for our evidence law, is the crucial question:
the information. If the jury were permitted to whether the statement was made by the driver
hear the independent evidence and the con- or by the passenger.”124 Similarly, in Vigneau,
tested evidence relating to the forms, the jury once the jury got to the see the content of the
could not be trusted to consider the indepen- “To Send Money Forms,” containing as they
dent evidence without being affected by the did, the defendant’s name, address, and tele-
contents of the forms as well. Thus, under the phone number, the jury would “not have much
rationale posited in this essay, the preliminary interest in what, for our purposes is the crucial
fact question of the identity of the declarant, question: whether the” person supplying the
not being one of relevance alone, would be for information to the Western Union agent was
the judge, not the jury. the defendant or someone else. There being
Consider the two hypotheticals on this no independent evidence of Vigneau being the
subject from Professor John Kaplan’s article. person before the agent, it would not be likely
Here is the first: that the jury would overlook the circumstan-
P v. D, an auto accident case. W, a police tial effect of the contents of the forms pointing
officer, testifies for the plaintiff that after an to him as the culprit.
intersection collision, he approached the de- In answer to the question how could the
fendant’s car and asked, “What happened?” CEC call this a jury question, Professor Kaplan
A voice answered, “I couldn’t see because the asserts that the “drafters simply were thinking
windshield was al fogged up.” It is disputed, of another question”,125 namely one presented
however, whether this statement was made by in a slightly different hypothetical:
the defendant driver, D or by D’s passenger, Same as [the last] hypothetical . . . except
F.121 that, in answer to the policeman’s question,
If the statement was made by D, it would the voice from the car said, “I don’t know, I
be admissible as an admission, just as the “To fell asleep just before the accident.” Again, it is
Send Money” forms in the Vigneau case. And disputed whether D or F said this.126
if made by the passenger, it would be a hearsay In this case, the evidence is relevant to D’s
statement by the passenger, inadmissible on negligence only if D made the statement, and
its face, in the absence of any applicable ex- not if his passenger did. In this scenario, the
ception to the hearsay rule, just as would be statement, if made by F, would not only be
the forms in Vigneau if submitted by someone hearsay, but would be irrelevant as well, since
other than the defendant. As Kaplan points “there is nothing wrong with driving accom-
out, the CEC treats the preliminary ques- panied by a dozing passenger.”127 Hence, a
tion as one for the jury, since CEC § 403(a)(4) jury should decide whether the statement was
specifically covers the case.122 But he asserts made by D or F, but a court applying the CEC
that only a little thought “reveals that the pre- to the first of these two hypotheticals “could
liminary question . . . should be [one for the reach the correct allocation of the preliminary
judge.]”123 This is because the jury might find fact question only by placing the purpose of
the rule above its literal wording.”
56
Norman Garland
57
JUICIO POR JURADOS
Gustavo Letner
Juez Penal, Contravencional y de Faltas de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires
Miembro del Consejo de la Magistratura de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires
58
Gustavo Letner
• Tampoco aparece vigente la batalla oportu- jurado ofrece una alternativa de mayor ca-
namente dada por antijuradistas sobre si el lidad. Esa calidad se advierte al concentrar
juicio por jurados ha perdido validez pese a una mejor atención por parte de los jueces,
estar previsto en la constitución nacional, una mejor dinámica del desarrollo del de-
pues podríamos decir que quienes prego- bate por las técnicas de litigación emplea-
naban esa posición ya no la sostienen. Ello das -porque involucra un mayor número de
obedece, en parte, a que la necesidad de la ciudadanos en la decisión- y porque existe
instauración del jurado surge más de las vir- una verdadera deliberación por parte de los
tudes de la institución en sí mismo, en cuan- encargados de resolver el caso.
to a que es visto como un mejor sistema de • Otra cuestión que subyace es la posible in-
enjuiciamiento, más allá de la previsión fluencia que podría recaer sobre los jurados,
constitucional. De todas formas cabe desta- como si las presiones o el tráfico de influen-
car que el jurado está mencionado en tres cias fuera un aspecto ajeno al juez profe-
oportunidades en la Constitución Nacional. sional. Las conclusiones arribadas sobre
• Otra cuestión que ya no amerita seguir dis- este punto nos informan que la afectación
cutiendo es la vieja idea de que la sociedad a la imparcialidad nunca está garantizada
no está preparada para ser jurado. Pensar y menos en un juez profesional que pien-
en esa dirección es subestimar la capacidad sa en su carrera. El riesgo de la influencia
de la ciudadanía para la toma de decisiones es común tanto al juez profesional como al
importantes. La ciudadanía no necesita es- jurado popular y es una lucha común a la
tar preparada, sólo necesita juzgar con ínti- que deben exponerse ambas formas de juz-
ma convicción. gamiento. Sin embargo, pareciera que es
• Por el contrario, la experiencia de los Es- más difícil intentar influir sobre un grupo
tados o provincias que avanzaron sobre de hombres (12, al menos, si eligiéramos el
la instauración del juicio por jurados dan formato de jurado clásico) que al finalizar
cuenta de ello. Es más, con la experiencia su tarea, continúan con su vida diaria, sus
cordobesa nuestro país ha superado con labores y no necesitan ganar un concurso o
creces esa duda. Se demostró, con estudios seguir pensando como ascender en su ca-
estadísticos, que no sólo los magistrados rrera profesional. En síntesis: la imparciali-
manifestaron sentir un mayor acompa- dad aparece como una garantía del acusa-
ñamiento por parte de la ciudadanía en la do que la justicia profesional no la asegura.
toma de decisiones, sino que los propios • Ahora bien, dentro de las cuestiones que sí
ciudadanos expresaron una mejor visión se mantienen vigentes al momento de ha-
de la justicia luego de haber transitado la blar del juicio por jurados y que sí se en-
experiencia de juzgar a sus pares. cuentra en plena etapa de desarrollo es el
• Un aspecto central que empieza a tomar vinculado al de la fundamentación del ve-
vuelo propio es el cambio de paradigma redicto. La decisión del jurado sin funda-
sobre quién debe juzgar en materia penal, mentación, donde expresa su voluntad por
dejando de ser la figura del juez profesio- su íntima convicción, todavía resulta una
nal la única alternativa posible. ¿Por qué cuestión a debatir. Sin embargo el debate
siempre el fundamento de una decisión de- sobre este aspecto, propio del jurado clá-
bería estar en manos de un juez? ¿Por qué sico, no alcanza a desvirtuar sus bondades
no repensar el juzgamiento del hombre a y muchos fundamentos se han esbozado
cargo de legos? Y este cambio de paradig- para salvar ese aparente déficit.
ma no resulta atacado por el control de los • Una cuestión que puede extraerse de las
derechos humanos ya que la experiencia conclusiones de la jornada mencionada, es
demuestra que el juzgamiento a cargo del que, para decidir, los jurados lo hacen con
59
JUICIO POR JURADOS
íntima convicción. Esta decisión es per- del juicio por jurados que la ley establezca.
sonal, es el cumplimiento de un mandato • Pero hay una aspecto que me parece cen-
personal y por ello no necesitan fundamen- tral a la hora de comprender por qué la
tar. El mandato es motivación suficiente. Ciudad de Buenos Aires no sólo puede sino
• Por otra parte las instrucciones previas a la que merece emprender el desafío de ins-
deliberación son las que permiten fundar taurar el juicio por jurados, y es porque su
la decisión tomada. Es decir, las instruccio- propio esquema constitucional y su código
nes previas, la deliberación y el veredicto reglamentario -como resulta ser el Código
componen una trama y las instrucciones Procesal Penal de la Ciudad- instauran un
representan o son equiparables a los argu- sistema adversarial que resulta ser la esen-
mentos vertidos en la sentencia de un juez cia o el núcleo del juicio por jurados.
profesional. Esta opinión es la que receptó • La dinámica del juicio por jurados se en-
el Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Huma- cuentra gobernada por los principios de la
nos en el reciente fallo “Tasquet”. inmediación, la contradicción y la publici-
• Claro que para poder determinar si el siste- dad. Estos mismos principios son los que
ma de jurados presenta algún tipo de déficit alberga el sistema procesal de la Ciudad de
en su estructura al momento de fallar, es Buenos Aires, en el cual el sistema adver-
bueno preguntarnos previamente cuál es el sarial vigente propone un juicio con am-
objeto de la fundamentación. En una prime- plio debate en todas sus instancias y con la
ra y breve aproximación podemos contestar “oralidad” como figura central.
a esa pregunta diciendo que su objetivo pri- • Este sistema vigente en la Ciudad de Buenos
mario es acotar el poder del que decide. Sen- Aires es el que asegura una decisión de mejor
tado ello, el segundo paso es ver si es mejor calidad pues es tomada en el contexto de una
fundamentar antes de tomar la decisión o al audiencia oral y pública, es decir, con los mis-
final. La conclusión de este punto indica que mos elementos que utiliza el juicio por jura-
es mejor hacerlo antes porque le da mayor dos. Es por eso que la Ciudad de Buenos Aires
autenticidad. Además, es una característica se encuentra en inmejorables condiciones de
propia del jurado que se aprecia en el dictado afrontar el desafío hacia la instauración del
de las instrucciones que el juez le da a los ciu- jurado, pues su regulación normativa, des-
dadanos en forma previa a tomar la decisión. de su constitución hasta su ordenamiento
• Llegado a este punto podemos preguntar- procesal, es totalmente afín a la estructura
nos si la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Ai- que crea y sostiene el juicio por jurados. Allí
res podría avanzar en un proyecto legisla- donde la Nación tal vez tenga y deba adecuar
tivo que incluya al jurado. De hecho, hay su sistema procesal penal de manera profun-
un proyecto en trámite, previsto sólo para da para implementar el juicio por jurados,
el juzgamiento de los delitos cometidos por la Ciudad de Buenos Aires se encuentra un
funcionarios públicos. paso adelante en este aspecto. Su legislación
• Entiendo que la Ciudad de Buenos Aires no es totalmente compatible con los principios
sólo podría avanzar hacia un esquema de jui- que rigen la institución y el camino a su im-
cio por jurados sino que debería hacerlo. Es- plementación aparece despejado.
toy convencido de ello por dos aspectos que
creo resultan decisivos al momento de tomar Por ello creo que no estamos en tiempo de
la decisión o el camino hacia ese objetivo. preguntarnos si debe o no instaurarse el juicio
• Uno de ellos nos lo brinda la propia Cons- por jurados, sino sólo preguntarnos qué mo-
titución de la Ciudad, en su artículo 106, al delo de juicio por jurados queremos. Es un de-
delimitar la competencia del Poder Judicial safío y una oportunidad que creo vale la pena
cuando deja en claro que ello es sin perjuicio transitar. n
60
DEBATE
61
DEBATE
62
JUICIO POR JURADOS
63
ENTREVISTA
¿Son los jurados una herramienta necesaria diciales. La voz del pueblo tiene que estar dentro de la
para el sistema judicial? administración de justicia y el beneficio que eso trae es
múltiple y en todo sentido. Se ha visto desde el punto
Son una herramienta imprescindible para el sistema ju- de vista político, desde el punto de vista judicial. Nos
dicial. Más allá de que casi la gran parte de la tradición sirve a nosotros los abogados para depurar los juicios.
constitucional iberoamericana, hija del movimiento de Pero fundamentalmente tiene que ver con el afianza-
ilustración y de la Revolución Francesa, previó en sus miento del valor de la ley. Alexis de Tocqueville siempre
disposiciones que el juicio se realice por jurados; creo decía que el valor de la ley es algo imprescindible en
que más allá de un simple legalismo constitucional, la una democracia. Pero ello no viene por decreto. El va-
propia realidad está indicando, con toda claridad en lor de la ley se cuece a fuego lento. Y la manera en la
esta América Latina del siglo XXI, que la justicia profe- que se va cocinando de a poco el valor de la ley es tra-
sional por sí sola no puede administrar las demandas tar el juicio por jurados, donde doce ciudadanos, más
ciudadanas en materia de seguridad, de justicia y más otros doce ciudadanos, juicio tras juicio. Son personas
allá de lo que es el sistema penal, de las otras cuestio- que quizás por una única vez en su vida van a tener
nes muy importantes en torno a cuestiones ambienta- que ver con la aplicación de la ley en un caso concreto.
les, cuestiones civiles complejas, e inclusive casos muy
importantes donde el Estado es parte. ¿Cómo beneficiarían los jurados al sistema
Entonces el juicio por jurados, para mí, es imprescindi- judicial en Argentina?
ble en todo sentido. Y además tiene que ser visto hoy
ya desde una óptica de profundizar la participación El jurado en la Argentina está hoy lejos, creo yo, de
ciudadana en todas las aéreas de la justicia. ser visto con desconfianza por los propios jueces. Hoy
se ha producido un cambio cultural. Muchas veces, en
¿Qué beneficios concretos trae el juicio por muchas ocasiones, son los propios jueces los que están
jurados? reclamando que los ciudadanos vayan a auxiliarlos en
esta enorme y difícil tarea que es juzgar a los demás.
El más importante de todos, es lo que señaló alguna vez Precisamente por un fenómeno de incomprensión ma-
Alexis de Tocqueville cuando hizo ese famoso viaje a Esta- siva que tiene la ciudadanía respecto del accionar del
dos Unidos, un país que recién estaba en sus orígenes, su sistema judicial en su conjunto.
población era analfabeta, pero tenía la Constitución más Por eso yo creo que esto traería beneficios mutuos.
adelantada del mundo en ese momento, y creía fervoro- Por un lado, la población va a participar de aquello
samente en un sistema político y un sistema judicial con que tanto critica. Por otro lado, los jueces van a poder
jurados. Alexis de Tocqueville se dio cuenta de que el ju- como está pasando en la provincia de Córdoba, res-
rado sigue manteniendo hoy, en el siglo XXI, las mismas pirar. Van a poder ejercer su importante tarea sabien-
características que tuvo desde que empezó en la época do que van a compartir la decisión, como manda la
griega y romana, y en la época medieval en Inglaterra. Constitución, con un grupo de vecinos representativo
El jurado es una escuela cívica, es una escuela de repú- del pueblo. Y esto lo único que puede llegar a traer
blica, de democracia. Es la que hace comprometer al es beneficios y un baño de legitimidad a lo que es la
ciudadano con los asuntos cotidianos de la nación. Y decisión judicial.
gran parte de esos problemas, de esos temas, son ju-
64
ENTREVISTA
65
ENTREVISTA
Si los jurados están en la Constitución nacio- Ahora, las razones políticas también son muy concretas.
nal, ¿por qué creés que no se han implemen- Cómo habríamos de imaginar un jurado popular en un
tado en todos estos años? país que estuvo cincuenta años bajo estado de sitio y dic-
tadura militar. Hubiera sido imposible. De hecho, cuando
En la Argentina el jurado está formalmente en la Cons- Europa fue azotada por el régimen nazi, el régimen de
titución desde 1853. Sin embargo, todos los prece- Vichy, el régimen mussoliniano, el régimen, inclusive, sta-
dentes constitucionales de la Argentina arrancan con linista, lo primero que hicieron fue abolir el jurado.
la existencia misma como nación en pleno proceso
de emancipación de la Corona española en 1811. En ¿En qué otras provincias hay jurados?
1813, 1819, 1826, en todas se establece que los jui-
cios deben hacerse por jurados. En Argentina está la provincia de Neuquén. En noviem-
Y en América Latina pasó algo parecido. En la Consti- bre de 2011, sancionó su código procesal penal que
tución venezolana, en todas las demás constituciones, incluye dentro del código, ni siquiera por ley aparte, el
en las centroamericanas, se estableció esto. Y las razo- juicio por jurados para delitos graves. Un jurado clásico
nes por las cuales no se implementó, o se lo hizo en al- de doce miembros, vecinos, con hombres y mujeres por
gunos lados deficientemente, tiene que ver con nues- igual, del mismo modo que en Córdoba. La provincia de
tra pertenencia cultural a lo que nosotros llamamos el Buenos Aires acaba de mandar un proyecto a la legisla-
margen de la tradición hispánica. Y España adentro tura para regular ni más ni menos que el jurado para casi
del continente europeo. Continente que lamentable- la mitad del país. También con jurado clásico. Si bien ahí
mente fue azotado durante nueve siglos por ese fenó- hay que hacer algunas correcciones para hacerlo perti-
meno tremendo llamado Inquisición. No así Inglaterra nente y no caer en ciertas distorsiones. Están en plena
que fue el único lugar donde no existió la Inquisición y discusión legislativa inminente Río Negro, Chubut. Y ya
donde el juicio siempre fue oral, público y con jurados. hay otras jurisdicciones como Mendoza y San Luis que
Lo cierto es que ha sido tal la fuerza cultural del fenó- quieren hacer propuestas surgidas hasta del seno mismo
meno inglés y tan tremendas las desgracias ocurridas del Poder Judicial. Así que hay un ambiente mucho más
bajo el imperio del sistema inquisitorial, que lenta- favorable que el que había hace 5 años y muchísimo más
mente la Revolución Francesa significa tomar la idea favorable aún del que había hace 20 o 30 años.
de la división de Poderes, tomar la idea de juicio por
jurados, de constitución, de democracia. Pero claro, ¿Se prevé para algún tipo de delito en especial?
no han pasado ni siquiera trescientos años. Y es muy
difícil cambiar costumbres centenarias en cuestión de Córdoba arrancó con delitos muy graves, cosa que me
minutos. Argentina y todos los países latinoamerica- parece correcta. El proyecto de la provincia de Buenos Ai-
nos sufrieron y sufren las consecuencias de la justicia res es para todos aquellos delitos con penas en abstracto
inquisitorial que todavía está firmemente arraigada. superiores a los 15 años de prisión. Parece una norma
Sobre todo en nuestro país a pesar de que ya ha habi- moderada el empezar así, a pesar de que el modelo de
do esfuerzos muy grandes. Por eso es muy difícil que jurado clásico, sobre todo en el mundo anglosajón que
el jurado pudiera materializarse allí. tiene muchos siglos ya de vigencia, la regla es la siguien-
Argentina tiene esta particularidad que tienen todos los te: se considera que seis meses en la vida de una perso-
países latinoamericanos. Pertenecemos a un margen de na es muchísimo; por lo tanto cualquier persona que es
la tradición colonial española, o europea continental, pero amenazada siquiera con pasar 6 meses en la cárcel tiene
tenemos una constitución inspirada en el federalismo nor- derecho a un juicio por jurados. Con lo cual entonces en
teamericano. Porque los próceres quisieron que ese fuera la Argentina en algún momento eso llegará.
el modelo de país, el modelo de instituciones para el país. Lo importante es que tenemos que arrancar y por lo
Precisamente para romper de cuajo con la tradición colo- pronto nuestra Constitución en el artículo 118, si bien
nial e inquisitorial. Argentina está por saldar esta deuda. está inspirada en el federalismo norteamericano, sí in-
A nivel provincial está avanzando y esas son las razones corporo la tripartición en crímenes, delitos y faltas que
culturales más poderosas para que no se haya instaurado. estableció la Revolución Francesa. Y la Constitución or-
66
ENTREVISTA
dena en forma obligatoria que los crímenes sean juz- Estamos cada vez más avanzados en lo que
gados por jurados. Por lo cual habilita a las provincias a es juicio por jurados en Argentina. ¿Qué fal-
que si ellas quieren puedan ampliar el catálogo de los ta? Voluntad política, más difusión, un cam-
crímenes obligatoriamente. El crimen es lo que la ley bio cultural…
determine. Todo aquel delito que tenga una pena de 8
años de prisión como mínimo, es crimen. Por debajo de Yo creo que estamos ante un fenómeno importante
allí podemos llamarlo delito. Y ahí las provincias pueden que es que en toda América Latina desde los años 80,
ampliar la competencia y establecer que el imputado que comenzó el proceso de reforma hasta la fecha, ya
tiene derecho a un pronunciamiento por un jurado. está conquistada para siempre la idea de juicio oral.
No hay macha atrás, no hay un sólo lugar en donde
Me gustaría que cuentes algún caso que ejem- haya una práctica que pueda hablarse que los juicios
plifique la tradición británica, que en las comuni- deben ser por escrito, por expediente. Sino que la idea
dades galesas del sur se utilizaba algo parecido. del juicio oral con todas las distorsiones inclusive que
tiene ya está firmemente asentada. Con lo cual no es
Sí, la primera experiencia de juicio por jurados en Ar- para nada descabellado entender por qué ahora, des-
gentina no provino de ninguna ley sino que provino, pués de la vigencia del juicio oral, se empieza a percibir
como provienen las cosas, de la fuerza de las costum- que falta algo. Y ese algo que falta es lo que está en
bres. En el año 1865, llegó el primer contingente de todas la constituciones que es el jurado. Que no se ve
inmigrantes galeses huyendo de la persecución y de la ahora como una entelequia rara de un país anglosa-
crisis alimentaria de las islas británicas, pero sobre todo jón, que no es ese el origen del jurado clásico sino que
huyendo de la persecución. tiene un origen latino en Grecia y Roma. Es visto como
Algunos de los miles de inmigrantes que iban a Esta- algo más concreto y más posible y, sobre todo, más de
dos Unidos vinieron a la Argentina y se establecieron en sentido común. Es la pata que le falta cerrar a un pro-
Chubut. En ese momento era un territorio nacional, el ceso para considerarse verdaderamente acusatorio.
presidente era Mitre y el ministro del interior era Raw- La Constitución nacional establece en al artículo 75 in-
son. Y los primeros galeses que llegaron pidieron auto- ciso 12, que el Congreso de la Nación tiene que dictar
rización al Ministerio del Interior, diciéndole que se que- una ley marco de aplicación obligatoria para todo el
rían asentar. Por supuesto, el gobierno de ese entonces país. Independiente de las facultades de las provincias,
que prohijaba la inmigración y sobre todo anglosajona, que pueden concurrentemente dictar sus propias leyes
los recibieron con los brazos abiertos. Los galeses pi- de jurados, inclusive ampliar la competencia del mismo.
dieron entonces permiso para poder juzgar sus conflic- Pero es cierto que el Congreso federal daría una enor-
tos con las normas del jurado. Por supuesto tuvieron me ayuda si finalmente cumple con el artículo 75 inciso
permiso porque además era constitucional. La propia 12 y el artículo 24 y dicta una ley nacional de juicio por
Constitución establecía que los juicios eran por jurados. jurados de aplicación obligatoria para todo el país.
Por lo tanto en Chubut hubo durante 40 años una expe-
riencia directa donde todos los juicios civiles, superiores ¿Algo más que quieras agregar?
a las 5 libras, y todos los juicios penales eran juzgados
por jurados con una ley muy sencilla. La Comon law, ley Simplemente diría que hay un autor que dice que
común, establecía perfectamente la acusación, la de- cuando se decide que un juicio se haga por jurado se
fensa, cómo se integraba el jurado con 12 miembros, la está entregando la administración de justicia al pue-
recusación y sobre todo el miembro más importante de blo. Y eso es lo que falta en América Latina.
la comunidad que oficiaba de juez. Y así se resolvieron
muchísimos casos que están todos documentados en
las actas, porque también había actas taquigráficas que Puede escuchar el audio
se conservaron y están en un museo en Gaiman que de esta entrevista en:
se pueden consultar. Están todos los casos. Esa fue la http://.................
primera experiencia de juicio por jurados en Argentina.
67
Algunas apostillas sobre la
oralidad. Una mirada positiva
Marcelo Nieto Di Biase
Abogado. Director de la Oficina Judicial de Trelew y coordinador de las Oficinas Judiciales
de la Provincia del Chubut. Argentina. Becario del Programa de Capacitadores para la
Reforma Procesal Penal (CEJA, Santiago de Chile, 2010).
mentación y limitar los efectos negativos. El Código Procesal Penal de la provincia del
Chubut exige que producida la detención de
Desde la implementación del sistema de una persona la audiencia debe llevarse a cabo a
audiencias orales en las distintas etapas, se más tardar dentro de las 48 horas siguientes.1
han experimentado cuestiones como la dis-
minución en los tiempos de los procesos; una Dispuesta la prisión preventiva del imputa-
limitación a la duración de la prisión preven- do por el juez penal –únicamente motivada en
tiva; el cumplimiento de la obligación de la peligro de fuga o por riesgo de entorpecimien-
publicidad; el contacto directo del juez con el to de la investigación–, el imputado o su defen-
imputado; etc. sor pueden solicitar la revisión de la medida, la
cual se llevará a cabo dentro de las 24 horas si-
Sin embargo, tras los efectos positivos se guientes –incluidos feriados– ante un tribunal
encuentran algunas prácticas negativas, algu- compuesto por otros dos jueces penales.
nas traídas del sistema procesal penal anterior
–inquisitivo mixto–; y otros efectos que se fue- Así, la disminución de la duración de la pri-
ron suscitando con el nuevo procedimiento. sión preventiva es uno de los mayores logros
del nuevo proceso penal.
Lo que se pretende en estas líneas es citar
algunas cuestiones de las que se ha tomado En un trabajo efectuado por el Ministerio
contacto directo a través de la propia expe- de la Defensa Pública del Chubut se determinó
riencia, sin análisis dogmáticos, pero con el
objetivo de poder demostrar situaciones de
hecho que deben ser tenidas en cuenta para 1 CPP Chubut, Argentina, art. 219.
68
que del total de las personas detenidas en la ganizar la agenda de todos los jueces penales
provincia, 68,5% se encuentran cumpliendo de la jurisdicción de la que se trate.
condenas, 30,8% en prisión preventiva y 0,7%
en tratamiento tutelar.2 El citado análisis de los tiempos promedio
de las audiencias ha permitido programar au-
diencias con una mayor efectividad, evitando
Tiempos de las audiencias: dejar “tiempos muertos” entre ellas, con el fin
organización y cumplimiento de lograr una mayor eficiencia en la citada
programación, con el consiguiente aprovecha-
En los inicios del nuevo procedimiento miento de recursos4 .
existió una falta de antecedentes directos que
permitieran estimar el tiempo necesario para Sin embargo, en importante cantidad de
llevar a cabo –y por ende programar– cada casos la extensión de los tiempos de las au-
una de las audiencias, llevando consigo un ne- diencias impide que la programación efectua-
cesario proceso de consolidación, motivado en da pueda ser cumplida en debida forma. Esto
la propia práctica de los operadores en cues- está motivado por distintas circunstancias,
tiones de litigación. entre las que podemos citar: la impuntualidad
de los distintos actores (jueces, fiscales, defen-
Luego de los primeros momentos –uno a sores, imputados, etc.); inconvenientes en las
dos años– de implementación de un sistema notificaciones; superposición de audiencias;
por audiencias orales, se impone la necesidad de extensión prolongada de las mismas.
organizar las mismas en función de los tiempos
estimados de su duración, siendo factible ello a En lo que respecta a la extensión prolongada
partir del momento con que se cuente con una de las audiencias, un aspecto central a ser teni-
cantidad suficiente de audiencias realizadas, lo do en cuenta es la actuación desplegada por las
cual permita contar con datos necesarios para partes en cada una de ellas. Así, podemos citar
realizar una estimación de la extensión en el a letrados (de los Ministerios Públicos y parti-
tiempo de los distintos tipos de audiencias culares) que hacen uso de documentos escritos
(control de detención; apertura o formalización en forma, me atrevo a decir, exagerada.
de investigación; revisión de prisión preventiva;
audiencia preliminar o intermedia; etc.). Dicha circunstancia conlleva a desvirtuar
uno de los fines perseguidos con un sistema
Los datos así obtenidos sirven de base para como el que aquí tratamos, esto es: la celeridad
la programación de aquéllas, actividad a cargo del proceso, dado que terminan transformán-
del órgano de gestión judicial3, el cual debe or- dose en audiencias de lectura, motivado en que
un importante número de operadores realizan
la lectura íntegra de sus escritos (por ejemplo:
2 http://www.defensachubut.gov.ar/userfiles/file/Preven- la acusación), generando con ello una prolon-
cion%20Violencia/Detenidos/Informe_PRESOS_CHU- gada extensión del tiempo de las audiencias.
BUT_Mayo_2012.pdf
3 Código Procesal Penal Chubut. Argentina. Artículo 75.
“OFICINA JUDICIAL. DELEGACIÓN DE FUNCIONES Esta dicotomía entre audiencia oral vs. au-
JURISDICCIONALES: INVALIDEZ. El juez o tribunal será
asistido por una Oficina Judicial. Al director o jefe de la
diencia de lectura viene aparejada a un aspecto
misma le corresponderá como función propia, sin perjuicio central, como es la necesidad de capacitación
de las facultades e intervención de los jueces previstas por
este Código, organizar las audiencias y el debate, dictar las
de los operadores en materia de litigación.
resoluciones de mero trámite, ordenar las comunicaciones,
disponer la custodia de objetos secuestrados, llevar al día
los registros y estadísticas, dirigir al personal auxiliar, in-
formar a las partes y colaborar en todos los trabajos mate- 4 Recursos personales: jueces; funcionarios y personal admi-
riales que el juez o el tribunal le indique…” nistrativo; recurso material central: sala de audiencia.
69
Es así que la implementación de un sistema La gestión judicial
de audiencias orales lleva consigo una capaci-
tación intensa de base, la cual debe ser refor- En lo que respecta a la gestión requerida en
zada por continuas capacitaciones en materia el nuevo sistema procesal penal, se debe ex-
de litigación oral y gestión judicial, a fin de presar que en la mayoría de las experiencias de
evitar el afianzamiento de posibles prácticas reforma los inconvenientes surgen por descui-
negativas. dar los temas de gestión.
Otro de los aspectos a cuidar es la puntua- Tal aseveración tiene un fundamento só-
lidad de los operadores. lido: los mayores problemas asociados a la
aplicación del nuevo procedimiento no han
Así, en determinados lugares es tradicional sido jurídicos; por el contrario, se basaron en
la práctica de llegar a los actos procesales de el poco interés enfocado a la organización del
manera impuntual. procedimiento en su conjunto.
De una estadística tomada de los tres pri- Cuando pensamos en un primer momen-
meros años de implementación del sistema to de gestión judicial nos orientamos direc-
por audiencias orales se pudo constatar que tamente al órgano encargado de ella, como
aproximadamente el 50% de la impuntuali- es la Oficina Judicial, también llamada Ofi-
dad de las audiencias se debió a los operadores cina de Gestión de Audiencias, entre otras
judiciales y abogados particulares, el 15% co- denominaciones.
rrespondió a los agentes policiales –asociados
a los traslados de los detenidos para las au- Cierto es que el responsable de la organi-
diencias–, y solamente el 14% fue motivado en zación de las audiencias es dicho organismo,
demoras de los imputados.5 cuya función principal es llevar adelante la
Algunas apostillas sobre la oralidad. Una mirada positiva
Marcelo Nieto Di Biase
70
Costos asociados a la Actualmente las causas no tardan años en
implementación ser resueltas, por un motivo central: es la au-
diencia oral la que permite que en un impor-
Una de las preguntas recurrentes es si la tante número de casos se llegue a una solución
implementación de un sistema procesal por alternativa del conflicto penal (por reparación,
audiencias orales es costoso. conciliación, etc.); como así también, la dismi-
nución de los plazos procesales establecidos
La respuesta, por cierto, puede resultar en el Código de Procedimiento, que impiden
difícil, teniendo en cuenta las distintas con- a los operadores extender sine die los procesos
formaciones de los tribunales en cada uno de penales, con perjuicio exclusivo en cabeza de
los Estados, como así también la extensión los justiciables.
de la jurisdicción y, por ende, la población
involucrada. Uno de los puntos que deben reforzarse
desde las máximas autoridades judiciales es el
Sin embargo, podemos expresar que, más control de la reforma a través del tiempo. Ello,
allá de la necesidad de contar con funcionarios por cuanto en un importante número de Esta-
suficientes (jueces, fiscales y defensores) para dos donde se ha adoptado el nuevo sistema, a
asistir a las audiencias; los restantes costos po- poco de iniciar el mismo, no se continuó con
drían ser solventados por las distintas admi- un seguimiento de control sobre la implemen-
nistraciones, sin incrementos presupuestarios tación, corriéndose el riesgo que los detracto-
importantes. res (que por cierto existen), como así también
algunas “malas prácticas”, tomen fuerza y sean
Ello, teniendo en cuenta que a la adquisi- perniciosos para el sistema en su conjunto.
ción de equipamiento para grabación de las
audiencias se le debe restar la disminución de Por último, resulta necesario concientizar
un consumo notorio de papel y tinta de impre- a los magistrados, funcionarios y letrados en
sión, como así también otros gastos generales, la importancia de capacitarse en materia de
como ser luz eléctrica (por disminución del litigación, permitiendo con ello un correcto
tiempo de actividad al ser el sistema por au- cumplimiento de los fines pretendidos con la
diencias más eficiente), gastos en notificacio- implementación de un sistema procesal del
nes (por el uso de la notificación digital), etc. tipo del que estuvimos analizando. n
Conclusión
En estas líneas se intentó citar algunas cir-
cunstancias asociadas al nuevo procedimien-
to penal, como decía al principio, desde una
óptica asociada a la experiencia particular, sin
mayores pretensiones que permitirle al lec-
tor tomar conocimiento de algunas “peque-
ñas apostillas” y que sirvan como punto de
referencia.
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