Opinion ID: 2389679
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: sua sponte instructional obligation

Text: Apart from requesting the court to enter a verdict of acquittal on the first degree murder charge, defendant independently contends that even though defense counsel never asked for it and the jury never indicated a need for further guidance on this issue, the court had an obligation to sua sponte instruct the jury on its right to return a partial verdict and to inquire if it had returned a partial verdict before granting defendant's motion for a mistrial. [6] Defendant contends that the court's failure to give such an instruction or make such an inquiry constituted plain error. [7] This plain error, defendant contends, violated his right not to be put twice in jeopardy for the same charge. Accordingly, defendant argues, he cannot be retried on the charge of first degree murder. In analyzing the issue of whether the court had a sua sponte instructional obligation, the court must put aside the information provided by the foreperson. See United States v. MacQueen, supra, 596 F.2d at 83 (holding that statements [of jurors offered to impeach an announced deadlock] cannot be considered by the court). See also Fitzgerald v. Lile, supra, 732 F.Supp. at 789; McKay v. Raines, supra, 405 F.Supp. at 365; Whiteaker v. State, supra, 808 P.2d at 273 n. 4; State v. Castrillo, 90 N.M. 608, 610, 566 P.2d 1146, 1148 (1977). Therefore, the factual posture in which this issue must be decided is dictated by the events prior to discharge, specifically, the jury's announcement on three separate occasions that it was unable to reach an agreement. The issue then, is a narrow one: whether the trial court, in the absence of a request, is required sua sponte to instruct the jury on its right to return a partial verdict when the only facts the court has within its knowledge are the repeated statements of the jury that it is unable to agree. Furthermore, in analyzing this issue, the court has concluded that if there is a per se requirement for the court to sua sponte give a partial verdict instruction, all the other counts, as well as the lesser included offense of second degree murder, would appear to be equally implicated. This is because there is no meaningful distinction  in the absence of the prohibited information about the internal deliberations of the jury  between the potential effect caused by this purported error on the first and second degree murder charges and on the other charges against defendant. See Whiteaker v. State, supra, 808 P.2d at 274. The absence of the partial verdict instruction and an inquiry about the possibility of a partial verdict would potentially affect all of the charges against him, as well as the lesser included offense. The issue of whether, in the absence of a request, the court is obligated to instruct on or inquire about a partial verdict has been considered by a number of courts. Contrary to defendant's assertion, the overwhelming weight of authority is that there is no such obligation. See United States v. MacQueen, supra, 596 F.2d at 82 (stating [n]or should we adopt a per se rule that a mistrial is improperly declared whenever the trial judge fails to specifically inquire as to the possibility of a partial verdict); United States v. Dakins, 277 U.S.App.D.C. 91, 94, 872 F.2d 1061, 1064 (instructing that [i]ndeed, it is not even required that the jury be instructed about its right to return a partial verdict at all), cert. denied, [493 U.S. 966, 110 S.Ct. 410, 107 L.Ed.2d 375] (1989); United States v. DiLapi, 651 F.2d 140, 147 (2d Cir.1981) (noting that the absence of such an explanation [by the trial court with respect to the right to return a partial verdict] did not deny the appellants any protected right in a case such as this where the jury neither attempted to return a partial verdict nor even asked if it could do so), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 938, 102 S.Ct. 1427, 71 L.Ed.2d 648 (1982). See also United States v. Wheeler, 802 F.2d 778, 781 (5th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 480 U.S. 908, 107 S.Ct. 1354, 94 L.Ed.2d 524 (1987). This conclusion was reached in the case of Fitzgerald v. Lile, 732 F.Supp. 784 (N.D.Ohio), aff'd, 918 F.2d 178 (6th Cir. 1990) on facts remarkably similar to the ones in this case. There, the jury was instructed on the charge of aggravated vehicular homicide and the lesser included offense of vehicular homicide. After the foreperson indicated on two occasions that there was no possibility of reaching a verdict, the judge declared a mistrial. Id. at 785. The defendant had neither moved for nor objected to the mistrial. After the jury was discharged, a completed jury form signed by all twelve jurors and finding the petitioner not guilty on the aggravated vehicular homicide charge was discovered in the juryroom. At a post-trial hearing, the foreperson testified that the jury had quickly found defendant not guilty on the greater charge and spent the remaining time debating the lesser charge. Id. Defendant contended that the Double Jeopardy Clause prevented his retrial on the aggravated vehicular homicide charge. Id. at 786. As a starting point, the court in Fitzgerald, as here, found that it must not consider the later-found verdict form nor the testimony of the foreperson, but must only consider the pre-discharge knowledge of the trial judge. Id. at 789. It noted further that, as here, no jury question had revealed any need to inquire of the jury about whether it had reached a verdict on the greater offense. The court held that the Double Jeopardy Clause does not impose a sua sponte obligation on the court to inquire about whether a jury has reached a partial verdict on a greater charge where there is no suggestion that the jury may have reached a partial verdict. Id. Another case reaching essentially the same conclusion is Whiteaker v. State, 808 P.2d 270 (Alaska Ct.App.1991), which defendant contends supports his argument that the court had a sua sponte obligation to instruct on and inquire about a partial verdict. In that case, involving a first degree murder charge and lesser included offenses, the jury announced it was deadlocked. Defense counsel requested that the judge inquire about a partial verdict before discharging the jury, particularly noting that the jury might have found an acquittal on first degree murder. The court refused to make the inquiry. Id. at 272. After the judge had discharged the jury and while all jurors were still in the courtroom as a body, a member of the jury asked whether it was possible to be hung on one charge and not another. The court again refused counsel's request to inquire about a partial verdict and discharged the jury. Id. at 273. On appeal, the court held that if defense counsel had not made the request for the inquiry, the record would support a finding of no probability that a verdict could be reached  hence, justifying a mistrial without an inquiry about the possibility of a partial verdict. Id. at 277. The court stated specifically, [W]e decline to place a burden on the trial judge to sua sponte inquire further or perform a special poll of jurors who deliberate on cases involving lesser included offenses. Id. That statement is directly contrary to defendant's claim that Whiteaker supports a sua sponte obligation of the trial court to instruct or inquire about a partial verdict. The court in Whiteaker, however, went on to hold that []upon evidence of confusion among the jurors, a different rule must apply.[] Id. Given the particular circumstances of that case, in which before the jury dispersed, a juror made an inquiry which suggested the possibility of a partial verdict and defense counsel specifically requested that an inquiry be made, the court found that the trial judge abused his discretion in declaring a mistrial over the objection of counsel. [8] Id. at 278. The one decision cited by defendant which legitimately appears to support his claim that a sua sponte instructional obligation exists is State v. Castrillo, 90 N.M. 608, 566 P.2d 1146 (1977). There, the court overruled a prior decision of that jurisdiction and held that in the future, when a jury announces its inability to reach a verdict in cases involving lesser included offenses, the trial court will be required to inquire of the jury whether it has unanimously voted for acquittal on any of the offenses on which the jury had been instructed. Id. at 611, 566 P.2d at 1149. The Castrillo decision, however, did not make clear its exact rationale for imposing that requirement. One issue addressed by the court was whether a court should ever be permitted to ask about a possible verdict on the main charge or any lesser included charge before the jury has resolved the entire package. The court answered that question in the affirmative. Id. at 611-12, 566 P.2d at 1149-50. The other issue was whether there could ever be manifest necessity to declare a mistrial without the consent of the defendant within the meaning of the Double Jeopardy Clause, as discussed infra at 954, until such an inquiry had been made. The court held that such manifest necessity could not be found. Id. at 613-14, 566 P.2d at 1151-52. Neither of those holdings, however, lead inexorably to the conclusion in Castrillo that the inquiry must be made in every case regardless of a request from any party and regardless of any indication from the jury that such a verdict may have been reached. The court in Fitzgerald suggested that the real reason behind the decision in Castrillo was that the appellate court did not follow its own reading of the law and, instead, took into account the deposition testimony from the jury foreman offered in support of the defendant's allegation that the jury had acquitted defendant of the first and second degree murder charges. Fitzgerald v. Lile, supra, 732 F.Supp. at 788 n. 4. The Fitzgerald court noted that it seriously doubted whether Castrillo would have reached the same result if confronted with a case where there was no evidence to show that the jurors had voted to acquit on one of the greater offenses. Id. The sua sponte requirement imposed on judges by Castrillo appears contrary not only to the weight of precedent but also to a number of sound policies. First, in a general sense, sua sponte instructional obligations run counter to the traditional rule imposing on counsel the obligation to request instructions or to object to actions taken at trial. Moreover, they provide counsel with an incentive to stand silent and sow error in the record, destroying the incentive to object and have the matter resolved during trial. See Johnson v. United States, 387 A.2d 1084, 1089 (D.C. 1978) (en banc). More specifically, in this context such a sua sponte obligation threatens to disrupt the fine line which a trial judge must tread with respect to partial verdicts. Particularly where the jury has given no indication of agreement on any charge, a judge must be careful not to coerce juries into reaching decisions. See United States v. Wheeler, supra, 802 F.2d at 781; United States v. DiLapi, supra, 651 F.2d at 147. [9] In this case, after three notes clearly indicating that the jury could not agree during the course of five days of deliberations, an instruction and inquiry on a partial verdict could easily have had that effect. The jury could conclude that the best way to escape what had apparently become a frustrating and unpleasant process would be to reach a compromise on some charge. [10] Most importantly, however, is that such a per se rule is inconsistent with the tactical judgments which defendants make at trial. The strength of the evidence, the configuration of the charges, and the defense's assessment of its chances with a particular jury are all factors which can influence a decision on whether the defense wishes to inquire into the possibility of a partial verdict. A per se rule requiring instruction and inquiry about a partial verdict in every case as a prerequisite to a mistrial would overlook the tactical decisions which the defense must make when a jury announces a deadlock, particularly since the essence of a deadlock is that some unspecified number of jurors favor conviction of the defendant on at least one charge. The defense may fear that the partial verdict which is returned may not be a favorable one. Further, even if favorable, the defense may not wish to have a less serious charge resolved  whatever the outcome  and be forced to face a second jury with only the most serious charge alone, where the jury's only choice would be to convict or acquit. For example, in Towles v. United States, 521 A.2d 651, 655-56 (D.C.), cert. denied, 483 U.S. 1008, 107 S.Ct. 3236, 97 L.Ed.2d 741 (1987), the Court of Appeals found that defendant had waived his Double Jeopardy claim on a second degree murder charge by making a tactical decision not to raise a Double Jeopardy objection to a lesser included offense instruction on second degree murder in order to give the jury an option other than convicting or acquitting him on the first degree murder charge alone. Indeed, the tactical judgments with respect to the partial verdict instruction or inquiry are similar to the tactical judgments recognized in Wright v. United States, 588 A.2d 260 (D.C.1991). There, the court held that where there is a lesser included offense, the defense can choose whether to request an acquittal first instruction (where the jury must find the defendant not guilty of the greater charge before considering the lesser charge) or a reasonable efforts instruction (where the jury is permitted to consider the lesser included charge after making reasonable efforts to reach a decision on the greater charge). Id. at 261-62. In giving this choice to the defendant, the court explained that either instruction may have advantages and disadvantages depending on the views of the majority of the jury and can cause jurors to capitulate and convict on the greater charge or to compromise and convict on the lesser. See also Jones v. United States, 544 A.2d 1250 (D.C.1988); United States v. Tsanas, 572 F.2d 340 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 995, 98 S.Ct. 1647, 56 L.Ed.2d 84 (1978). [11] Given the tactical nature of the judgment to be made by the defense in determining whether to request a partial verdict instruction or inquiry, a per se rule requiring the court sua sponte to give such an instruction would be inappropriate. Moreover, as the tactical judgments illustrate, a partial verdict instruction or inquiry is as likely to produce a guilty verdict as a not guilty verdict. Under those circumstances, the failure to sua sponte give the instruction or make the inquiry cannot meet the plain error standard of clearly prejudicing the substantial rights of the defendant. See Stewart v. United States, supra, 490 A.2d at 625. Thus, substantial case law as well as sound policy stand contrary to defendant's claim that the court committed plain error by not sua sponte instructing the jury on partial verdicts or inquiring whether one had been reached despite the absence of any indication from the jury that it had reached a partial verdict and despite any request for such an instruction from defendant. Under those circumstances, the court cannot conclude that it committed plain error by not instructing and inquiring in the manner which defendant now contends was required. Accordingly, the court cannot find that a Double Jeopardy bar precludes his retrial on the first degree murder charge.