Competency of Juror as Witness

(A) At the trial A member of the jury may not testify as a witness before that jury in the trial of the case in which the juror is sitting. If the juror is called so to testify, the opposing party shall be afforded an opportunity to object out of the presence of the jury. (B) Inquiry into validity of verdict or indictment (1) Prohibited Testimony or other Evidence Upon an inquiry into the validity of a verdict or indictment, a juror may not testify as to any matter or statement occurring during the course of the jury's deliberations or to the effect of anything upon that or any other juror's mind or emotions as influencing the juror to assent to or dissent from the verdict or indictment or concerning the juror’s mental processes in connection therewith. A juror’s affidavit or evidence of any statement by the juror concerning a matter about which the juror would be precluded from testifying will not be received by the court for these purposes. (2) Exceptions A juror may testify about whether: Extraneous prejudicial information was improperly brought to the (a) jury’s attention; Any outside influence was improperly brought to bear on any juror; (b) or, Any threat, any bribe, any attempted threat or bribe, or any (c) improprieties of any officer of the court occurred. Effective Date: July 1, 1980 Amended: July 1, 2007; July 1, 2022 Evid.R. 606(B) Staff Note (July 1, 2022 Amendment) Ohio Evid.R. 606(B) is being amended to more closely mirror Fed.Evid.R. 606(B), and is intended to address constitutional challenges to the former rule as being violative of a criminal defendant’s constitutional rights because it infringed upon the defendant’s fair trial rights.