Opinion ID: 1467302
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Heading: Historic Procedures for Returning the Verdict

Text: The protocol for the return of verdicts at trial in Maryland in the late Nineteenth Century was articulated in Givens v. State, 76 Md. 485, 487, 25 A. 689, 689 (1893): When the jury have come to a unanimous determination with respect to their verdict, they return to the box to deliver it. The clerk then calls them over, by their names, and asks them whether they agree on this verdict, to which they reply in the affirmative. He then demands who shall say for them, to which they answer, their foreman. This being done, he desires the prisoner to hold up his right hand and addresses them: `Look upon the prisoner at the bar; how say you, is he guilty of the matter whereof he indicted or not guilty?' The foreman then answers guilty or not guilty, as the verdict may be. The officer then writes the word `guilty' or `not guilty' as the verdict is, on the record and again addresses the jury: `Hearken to your verdict as the court hath recorded it. You say that ____ is guilty (or not guilty) of the matter whereof he stands indicted, and so say you all.' This procedure for returning a verdict is nearly identical to those used in the Provincial Court established during the colonial period. See Proceedings of The Provincial Court, 1666-1667, at 64 (describing how the jurors returned to the courtroom, the clerk called their names, asked if they agreed on their verdict, and who was to speak for them). Moreover, it was standard practice throughout the rest of the United States as long ago as the early Nineteenth century. See James Parker, The Conductor Generalis, 323-24 (1801) (providing procedures identical to those used in the Provincial Court); Samuel Freeman, The Massachusetts Justice, 40 (1802) (same); Samuel Bayard, An Abstract of those Laws of the United States Which Relate Chiefly to the Duties and Authority of the Judges of the Inferior State Courts, and the Justices of the Peace, Throughout the Union, 230 (1804) (same); 1 Joseph Chitty, A Practical Treatise on the Criminal Law, 436-37 (1819) (stating that verdicts in criminal cases must be given publicly, not privately, in the accused's presence); 4 Joseph Chitty, A Practical Treatise on The Criminal Law, 318, 421 (1819) (providing procedures identical to those used in the Provincial Court of Maryland). Maryland Rule 4-327(a) and (e) [12] embody the essence of this historical procedure for returning a verdict. This Rule is identical to former Maryland Rule 759, [13] which was derived from Rule 40 of the Uniform Rules of Criminal Procedure promulgated by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. [14] Former Md. Rule 759, ed. note. Former Rule 759(a) and (e) were recodified without any change on April 7, 1986 as Maryland Rule 4-327(a) and (e). Md. Rule 4-327(a), (e). Throughout the Rule's many incarnations there has been no comment on what procedures are necessary for a jury to return a verdict. Nevertheless, we do know that the return of a verdict by a jury has been comprised of three distinct procedures, each fulfilling a specific purpose. After the jury returned to the jury box to deliver its verdict, the foreman, speaking for the jury, orally answered the inquiry of the clerk and stated the verdict to the trial court. Givens, 76 Md. at 487, 25 A. at 689. Although in the colonial period, polling occurred immediately upon the jury's return to the court regardless of a failure to request to do so, id., at some point after 1893, the request to poll the jury came to be made after the oral announcement of the verdict. Smith v. State, 299 Md. 158, 166, 472 A.2d 988, 992 (1984). A poll of the jury is conducted to ensure the unanimity of the verdict prior to its entry on the record. Id. at 166, 472 A.2d at 991. The underlying requirement of a final verdict is that it be unanimous. Id. at 163, 472 A.2d at 990. The requirement of unanimity is, of course, a constitutional right set forth in Article 21 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights, which states that every man hath a right ... to a speedy trial by an impartial jury, without whose unanimous consent he ought not to be found guilty, and implemented through Rule 4-327(a). This Court explained this constitutional right in Ford v. State, 12 Md. 514 (1859): `The verdict is the unanimous decision made by the jury and reported to the court, on the matters lawfully submitted to them in the course of the trial.' Unanimity is indispensable to the sufficiency of the verdict. Id. at 549, quoting 10 Bacon's Abridged Title Verdict, 306 (emphasis in original). [15] A defendant has the absolute right to poll the jury, Smith, 299 Md. at 165, 472 A.2d at 991. As this Court asserted over a century ago in Williams v. State, 60 Md. 402, 403 (1883): [A defendant is] entitled, as a matter of right, to a poll of the jury, and he [may] not be convicted, except upon the concurrence of each juror. See L. HOCHHEIMER, The Law of Crimes and Criminal Procedure (2d ed. 1904) § 179. In order to exercise the right to poll, the defendant must request to poll the jury. Md. Rule 4-327(e). The procedure for polling is set forth in Maryland Rule 4-327(e), which provides: (e) Poll of jury. On request of a party or on the court's own initiative, the jury shall be polled after it has returned a verdict and before it is discharged. If the jurors do not unanimously concur in the verdict, the court may direct the jury to retire for further deliberation, or may discharge the jury if satisfied that a unanimous verdict cannot be reached. The assent of each juror [polled] must be free and unqualified. Smith, 299 Md. at 167, 472 A.2d at 992, quoting Hochheimer § 179. When a poll is demanded, the verdict becomes final only upon its acceptance after the poll. Smith, 299 Md. at 168, 472 A.2d at 993. After polling, the third step occurs when the jury is hearkened to its verdict as the traditional formality announcing the recording of the verdict. Id. It was once required that a demand to poll the jury had to precede the recordation of the verdict upon hearkening. Once a verdict was hearkened it was `too late to poll the panel.' Id. at 166, 472 A.2d at 992, quoting Ford v. State, 12 Md. 514, 546 (1859). We since have determined that a demand to poll the jury may be made at any time in the proceeding prior to the discharge of the jury. Id. at 167, 472 A.2d at 992. Hearkening of the jury to the verdict, like polling the jury, is conducted to secure certainty and accuracy, and to enable the jury to correct a verdict, which they have mistaken, or which their foreman has improperly delivered. Id. at 165, 472 A.2d at 991, citing Givens, 76 Md. at 488, 25 A. at 689-90. It is in the absence of a demand for a poll that a hearkening is required for the proper recordation of a verdict. Id. at 166, 472 A.2d at 992. As previously stated, Under our practice the hearkening of a verdict is the traditional formality announcing the recording of the verdict. A jury poll has the same effect. Id., citing Ross v. State, 24 Md.App. 246, 254, 330 A.2d 507, 512 (1975). Traditionally, hearkening removed the case from the jury's consideration; however, because the parties and the trial court retain the right to poll the jury until its discharge after hearkening, where polling the jury follows its hearkening, the poll of the jury performs the same function. Smith, 299 Md. at 168, 472 A.2d at 993.