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During a federal civil trial over a warehouse collapse, the presiding judge mentions at a sidebar that she drove past the warehouse the morning after the storm and personally saw that one support column "looked freshly cut." Plaintiff asks to call the judge as a witness about that observation. Defendant does not immediately object because counsel assumes the judge will deny the request.
Later, Plaintiff asks to call Juror 8, who is a retired engineer, to testify before the jury that a demonstrative exhibit accurately depicts how the column failed. The judge refuses to allow an objection outside the jury's presence and says any objection can be made in open court.
After a defense verdict, Plaintiff offers an affidavit from Juror 3 stating that Juror 8 told the other jurors during deliberations that he had looked up structural-failure articles online and that those articles convinced several jurors. The affidavit also states that Juror 8 seemed very confident and that other jurors trusted him because of his engineering background.
Analyze the evidentiary issues involving the judge, Juror 8 during trial, and Juror 3's post-verdict affidavit.