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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document614 Filed 02/24/22 Page9of12
“inferable bias.” United States v. Torres, 128 F.3d 38, 43-48 (2d Cir. 1997). Juror 50’s press
statements show he was biased in all three such ways.
Actual Bias: “Actual bias is ‘bias in fact’ — the existence of a state of mind that leads to an
inference that the person will not act with entire impartiality. A juror is found by the judge to be
partial either because the juror admits partiality, or the judge finds actual partiality based upon the
juror’s voir dire answers.” Torres, 128 F.3d at 43 (internal citation omitted); see United States v.
Haynes, 398 F.2d 980, 984 (2d Cir.1968) (actual bias is “based upon express proof, e.g., by a voir
dire admission by the prospective juror of a state of mind prejudicial to a party’s interest’’).
This Court asked jurors about their history of sexual abuse because of the traumatic
implications for victims of abuse and the strong likelihood of bias where the issue to be tried is
whether complainants in fact were sexually abused. Psychological studies support this common
sense conclusion. A recent meta-analysis of nine studies of childhood sexual abuse victims sitting
as mock jurors in sex abuse cases “revealed that, compared with others, mock jurors with abuse
experience (sexually abused themselves or knew other victims) had higher levels of child victim
empathy and, in turn, perceived the victim to be more credible and assigned more guilt to
defendants.” Child Victim Empathy Mediates The Influence Of Jurors’ Sexual Abuse Case
Judgments: Metanalysis, 26 Pyschol. Pub. Pol’y & L. 312, 328 (2020); see also id. at 325
(“Psychologists serving as jury consultants have concurred with the latter: ‘Sexually based
offenses are particularly complicated because jurors may possess personal victimization histories
... Jurors with personal abuse histories are unlikely to be impartial.’’).
Here, Juror 50’s press statements reflect actual bias. He stated his own sexual abuse
experience predisposed him to credit the stories of sexual abuse complainants despite delays in
reporting and memory lapses. His own experience, in his own mind, left him predisposed to reject
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| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00009116.jpg |
| File Size | 745.8 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 94.9% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 2,205 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 17:41:39.668099 |