Opinion ID: 853245
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: What Hernandez Does Contend

Text: Hernandez contends that the second note showed that the jury was deadlocked and that at least some jurors considered convicting Hernandez because he might go free if the jury could not return a verdict. Hernandez contends that this situation presented the potential for a motion for a mistrial based on a deadlocked jury or the opportunity for him to request curative instructions. He therefore argues that the point at which the jury sent the note was one which required counsel's judgment and advocacy, and was a critical stage of the proceeding such that the Sixth Amendment required presence of counsel. Hernandez also argues that the error he identifies, by its very nature, cannot be harmless. He contends that the note implied that the jury could not agree and that some jurors, at least, were considering convicting Hernandez for reasons related only collaterally, if at all, to the evidence presented at trial. Hernandez contends that the State cannot show the error was harmless because the State cannot show that a mistrial would have been denied or that Hernandez could not have taken other curative measures if he had been given the opportunity to request them. Hernandez urges that this case is more egregious than an ex parte communication between a judge and jury regarding evidence because it is impossible to analyze, after the fact, what might have happened had Hernandez simply been given the opportunity to respond.