Title: State v. Martin

State: minnesota

Issuer: Minnesota Supreme Court

Document:

211 N.W.2d 765 (1973) STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. James Andrew MARTIN, Appellant. No. 43558. Supreme Court of Minnesota. October 12, 1973. C. Paul Jones, Public Defender, Doris O. Huspeni, Asst. Public Defender, Minneapolis, for appellant. Warren Spannaus, Atty. Gen., St. Paul, George M. Scott, County Atty., Theodore R. Rix, Michael McGlennen, and Vernon E. Bergstrom, Asst. County Attys., Minneapolis, for respondent. Heard before KNUTSON, C. J., and OTIS, ROGOSHESKE, and MacLAUGHLIN, JJ., and considered and decided en banc. OTIS, Justice. This appeal from a conviction for robbery challenges the continued validity in Minnesota of the so-called "Allen" charge directed at deadlocked jurors. We hold that such instructions are no longer consistent with our concept of a fair trial and adopt in their place A.B.A. Standards Relating to Trial by Jury, § 5.4 (Approved Draft, 1968). Because the Allen charge was here given, and evidence reflecting on *766 defendant's character was improperly received, we reverse. 1. Defense counsel on cross-examination elicited from a prosecution witness testimony that she had identified defendant from a photograph. On redirect, over defendant's objection, the prosecutor handed the witness in full view of the jury a so-called police mug shot photograph album from which the witness selected defendant's picture. Later in an apparent effort to minimize the prejudice, defense counsel introduced testimony that the defendant's previous offense was an ordinance violation. Not only have we condemned such disclosures by the prosecution, State v. Madison, 281 Minn. 170, 160 N.W.2d 680 (1968), certiorari denied, 393 U.S. 102, 89 S. Ct. 904, 21 L. Ed. 2d 796 (1969), but the prejudice here is compounded by the fact defendant was only 17 years of age, and under our law juvenile offenses are not crimes which can be used for impeachment. Equally prejudicial was the unwarranted disclosure to the jury of defendant's narcotic addiction. In the course of cross-examining defendant about the presence of one Louis Smith in defendant's apartment, the following colloquy occurred: Again, over strenuous objection, the prosecutor was permitted to examine defendant in great detail concerning his prior use of drugs. The state attempts to justify the cross-examination because of defendant's volunteered answer, "I never shot no L.S. D." In State v. Flowers, 262 Minn. 164, 114 N.W.2d 78 (1962), we held it reversible error to allow an attack on defendant's character where precisely the same kind of a volunteered unresponsive answer was given. In State v. Sharich, Minn., 209 N.W.2d 907 (1973), we reaffirmed the rule that a general denial by defendant that he did a particular act is insufficient to put his character in issue. The state, on the other hand, relies on State v. Fulford, 290 Minn. 236, 187 N.W.2d 270 (1971). There, however, we simply approved a cross-examination which expanded on defendant's direct examination in which he admitted he "reasoned" with a person from whom he sought money. The state was permitted on cross-examination to ask if in fact he didn't use a knife to coerce her. That cross-examination related to a single episode described by the defendant on direct. In the instant case, defendant's drug addiction had no relationship to the subject of the examination and his unresponsive answer, as we said in the Flowers case, was simply "the use of colorful and emphatic language common to persons of his background." 262 Minn. 170, 114 N.W.2d 82. Under the circumstances of this case, there was no justification for seizing on an isolated statement to impeach defendant's character. 2. After the jury had been out a little over 24 hours, they reported they were deadlocked. Counsel for defendant asked the court if it intended to set a time for giving "a dynamite instruction," adding, "Not that I am in favor of it * * *." The following day, after the jury had been out about 50 hours, the court did give such a charge in the following language: Two hours and 20 minutes later, the jury found defendant guilty on one count and not guilty on another, which defendant argues, with some validity, suggests a compromise induced by the so-called "dynamite charge." Although the record is not clear, apparently counsel was present when the charge was given and made no further objection other than the statement of disapproval to which we have alluded. Nevertheless, we regard the question as one so basic and the rights involved so fundamental that we deem it proper to consider the matter on appeal. *768 The Allen charge had its origin in Commonwealth v. Tuey, 62 Mass. (8 Cush.) 1 (1851). The charge in the Tuey case was as follows: In Allen v. United States, 164 U.S. 492, 17 S. Ct. 154, 41 L. Ed. 528 (1896), the Supreme Court of the United States held that it was not error in a Federal prosecution to give the substance of the charge, which it noted was taken literally from that approved in the Tuey case. Until recently, appellate courts almost without exception have approved the use of the charge. However, any substantial departure from the Allen charge has led to appellate review and frequent reversals. In this state we approved the charge in State v. Friend, 154 Minn. 428, 191 N.W. 926 (1923). A charge by the trial court including the statement, unchallenged by counsel, that "the case must be decided at some time," was held not to be grounds for reversal in State v. Siebke, 216 Minn. 181, 190, 12 N.W.2d 186, 191 (1943). In State v. Doan, 225 Minn. 193, 205, 30 N.W.2d 539, 546 (1947), we found nothing objectionable in the court's suggesting that jurors who were in the minority reconsider and review the testimony without a similar obligation being imposed on the majority. More recently, in State v. Holscher, 261 Minn. 478, 113 N.W.2d 94, certiorari denied, 370 U.S. 955, 82 S. Ct. 1607, 8 L. Ed. 2d 821 (1962); and in State v. Dickson, Minn., 209 N.W.2d 785 (1973), we found no occasion to reconsider the validity of the Allen charge. *769 Briefly summarized, the principal criticism of the Allen charge centers on these considerations: First, the language is essentially coercive and there is no place in the jury system for the court's intruding and urging unanimity. Second, the Allen charge has resulted in a multitude of variations which have in turn bred and proliferated appellate review. Third, the charge emphasizes the obligation of the minority to consider whether or not its doubts are reasonable without imposing the same obligation on the majority. Fourth, it states that the case must, at some time, be decided which, in fact, is not and never has been the law. Fifth, by admonishing that absolute certainty cannot be attained or expected, the Allen charge tends to erode the universal rule requiring guilt to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Sixth, and finally, in giving the Allen charge as a supplemental instruction, there is no uniformity among courts as to the length of time which must elapse after the jury retires before the charge is appropriate. This, in itself, has led to frequent appeals. Turning to the language of the supplementary charge given in the instant case, there were two instructions which we now hold are no longer permissible. The first was as follows: "You should consider that this case must at some time be decided * * *." This is the precise language used in the Tuey charge and referred to with apparent approval in State v. Siebke, 216 Minn. 181, 190, 12 N.W.2d 186, 191 (1943). A close analysis of the instruction convinces us that it has no support in any legal principle. The case for abandoning it was well stated by Judge Brown in what has become a landmark dissent. Huffman v. United States, 297 F.2d 754, 755 (5 Cir. 1962). Judge Brown observed that it is simply not correct to state that a case must at some time be decided. The result is equivalent to a Scotch verdict of "not proven." As Judge Brown points out, when a jury is unable to agree, its deadlock constitutes in effect a declaration that as a body it is unable to find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty. The dissent goes on to say that the judge's failure to indicate which of two decisions must be reached does not make the "dynamite charge" any the less an intrusion into the exclusive domain of the jury, and concludes with the observation that "a mistrial from a hung jury is a safeguard to liberty." A supplemental charge by a Federal trial court stating, "You have got to reach a decision in this case" was held coercive by the United States Supreme Court and grounds for reversal in Jenkins v. United States, 380 U.S. 445, 85 S. Ct. 1059, 13 L. Ed. 2d 957 (1965). As a logical extension of that decision, there is no doctrine which requires a case to be decided "at some time" since, presumably, it would be error for any judge in any subsequent case to direct the jury to reach a decision. In a well-considered decision of the Alaska Supreme Court, Fields v. State, 487 P.2d 831, 837 (Alaska 1971), it was held that an unguarded admonition of the trial court that the jury was to deliberate until it reached a unanimous verdict was grounds for reversal. A requirement that the trial end with either a verdict of guilty or not guilty is not the law, the court stated, concluding that *770 Two Federal cases deserve comment. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in United States v. Thomas, 146 App.D.C. 101, 104, 449 F.2d 1177, 1180 (1971), took note of the crowded criminal calendars in passing on the propriety of the court's statement to the jurymade subsequent to the giving of an Allen chargethat he was "not going to declare a mistrial, and thereby require a retrial of this case before some other jury." The court held (146 App.D.C. 108, 449 F.2d 1184): A similar result was reached in United States v. Flannery, 451 F.2d 880, 883 (1 Cir. 1971), where the United States Court of Appeals held that while the court could properly instruct that it is desirable for the case to be decided, "we expressly disapprove the Tuey statement that `the case must at some time be decided.' * * * A jury, any number of juries, have a right to fail to agree."[2] We are in accord with the views expressed in the cases cited and find no basis in the law for holding that a criminal case must be retried until a verdict is reached. As other courts have suggested, after there have been one or more hung juries in a criminal case, prosecutors very frequently decline to relitigate it. This is particularly so where there is no new evidence and no reason to believe that the case was not fully and fairly presented on both sides. Under Minnesota law, whether a defendant is guilty or innocent, he may not be convicted unless a unanimous jury finds proof beyond a reasonable doubt that he is guilty. Accordingly, we now hold that it is error to charge the jury that a case must at some time be decided. An instruction which finds support in the Allen-Tuey charge but which we now believe to be incompatible with a sound approach to the process of guiding jury deliberations was given by the trial court in the following language: *771 Again, most of the courts which have had occasion to reexamine the Allen charge in recent years have disapproved an instruction which admonishes the minority to reconsider and reevaluate its position without imposing a similar obligation on the majority. The Supreme Court of Montana in State v. Randall, 137 Mont. 534, 542, 353 P.2d 1054, 1058 (1960), reversed a conviction where a similar charge was given, and expressed a view with which we are in agreement: The United States Court of Appeals in Green v. United States, 309 F.2d 852 (5 Cir. 1962), was dealing with a variation of the Allen charge which, to be sure, was far less balanced than the charge given in the instant case. The trial court in effect stated (309 F.2d 853) that the minority should listen to the majority since the majority "will have better judgment than the mere minority"a "fact" which the trial court believed should cause the minority to question the correctness of its position. Nevertheless, in holding the charge to be coercive, the court of appeals felt there was small, if any, justification for using the Allen charge, and had this to say concerning majorities (309 F.2d 855): In a similar vein, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals made a case for the minority with considerable eloquence in United States v. Fioravanti, 412 F.2d 407, 416 (3 Cir. 1969), certiorari denied sub nom. Panaccione v. United States, 396 U.S. 837, 90 S. Ct. 97, 24 L. Ed. 2d 88 (1969): We concur in the views expressed that risking a coercive verdict by applying pressure on a minority of the jurors in order to terminate litigation is not the solution to calendar congestion. Hung juries are not a serious problem in either civil or criminal cases, and the potential for coercion by the intrusion of the court into the functions of the jury is too dear a price to pay for relieving court congestion. Virtually all of the objectionable features of the Allen charge have been eliminated *772 by the procedures proposed in A.B. A. Standards Relating to Trial by Jury, § 5.4 (Approved Draft, 1968). That section provides: A number of courts have now abandoned the Allen charge and adopted the A.B.A. Standards. United States v. Brown, 411 F.2d 930 (7 Cir. 1969); Fields v. State, 487 P.2d 831, 840 (Alaska, 1971); United States v. Thomas, 146 App.D.C. 101, 449 F.2d 1177 (1971); State v. Marsh, 260 Or. 416, 490 P.2d 491 (1971); State v. White, Me., 285 A.2d 832 (1972).[3] One court has abandoned the Allen charge and recommended the A.B.A. Standards. Commonwealth v. Spencer, 442 Pa. 328, 275 A.2d 299 (1971). One other has tacitly approved the standards without abandoning the Allen charge, State v. Ferguson, 84 S. D. 605, 175 N.W.2d 57 (1970); and State v. Champagne, 198 N.W.2d 218 (N.D. 1972), has recommended the standards. The following courts have abandoned the Allen charge without adopting the standards: State v. Smith, 108 Ariz. 121, 124, 493 P.2d 904, 907 (1972); State v. Randall, 137 Mont. 534, 353 P.2d 1054 (1960); United States v. Fioravanti, 412 F.2d 407, 414 (3 Cir. 1969); Azbill v. State, Nev., 495 P.2d 1064, 1069 (1972). One court has recently approved the Allen charge. United States v. Hynes, 424 F.2d 754 (2 Cir. 1970). We now hold that use of the Allen charge shall be discontinued in Minnesota and the procedures set forth in A.B.A. Standards Relating to Trial by Jury, § 5.4, are adopted for the trial courts in this state. The advantages of the Standards are these: The jury is forewarned of how it should proceed to forestall a deadlock before there is a minority or a majority. The potential for coercion is minimized if the charge is simply reread at a time when the jury appears to be deadlocked. It avoids the undesirable effect on the minority of having the prestige of the court brought to bear on it by the court's focusing only on the minority to achieve unanimity. The timing of the supplementary instruction is less critical since the charge has already been given when the jury retires. *773 Rather than stressing the duty to decide the case, the jurors are admonished only to consult and deliberate with a view to reaching an agreement consistent with their individual judgments. The emphasis is on further consideration of the evidence by all the jurors, and any juror, whether in the minority or majority, is invited to reexamine his views and change his opinion if he is convinced it is in error. But the thrust of the proposed charge is a positive one that no juror should surrender his honest conviction simply because of his fellow jurors' opinion or just to reach a verdict. Finally, and most important, the standards omit any suggestion that if that jury does not decide the case, necessarily some other jury will have to discharge the responsibility which the first jury failed to fulfill. Reversed and remanded for a new trial. YETKA and SCOTT, JJ., not having been members of this court at the time of the argument and submission, took no part in the consideration or decision of this case. [1] One commentator, citing Kalven & Zeisel, The American Jury, states: "* * * It is reliably estimated that only five per cent of criminal jury trials end in a failure to reach a verdict. Moreover, though reliable statistics are hard to come by, one study shows that on a nationwide average only about fifteen percent of felony prosecutions are ever tried to a jury. Thus on the basis of these two figures, it appears that approximately six-tenths of one per cent of all felony prosecutions and in hung juries." Note, 53 Va.L.Rev. 123, 145. [2] The United States Court of Appeals in Green v. United States, 309 F.2d 852, 856 (5 Cir. 1962), recognizes the right of an accused to a hung jury and a mistrial, and the Oregon Supreme Court in State v. Marsh, 260 Or. 416, 442, 490 P.2d 491, 503, observes that the possibility of a hung jury is "part and parcel of our jury system." [3] See, Note, 56 Minn.L.Rev. 1199; and 47 N.Y.U.L.Rev. 296, 310, for excellent discussions and analyses of the A.B.A. proposals.