Opinion ID: 454710
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Jury Communication

Text: 13 It is clear that a criminal defendant has a right to be present during all stages of his trial--including the jury deliberations--and that this right can be abridged when a trial judge communicates with the jury without first contacting the defendant or his counsel. Fed.R.Crim.P. 43(a); Rogers v. United States, 422 U.S. 35, 39, 95 S.Ct. 2091, 2094, 45 L.Ed.2d 1 (1975). It is also clear, however, that the defendant can waive this right, Fed.R.Crim.P. 43(b)(1), and that even when a trial judge does erroneously communicate with the jury without notifying the defendant, such error can sometimes be considered harmless. United States v. Silverstein, 732 F.2d 1338, 1348 (7th Cir.1984); United States v. Clavey, 565 F.2d 111, 119 (7th Cir.1977), modified en banc on other grounds, 578 F.2d 1219 (7th Cir.1978) (per curiam). See also Rogers v. United States, 422 U.S. at 40, 95 S.Ct. at 2095. This case requires us to apply these principles to a rather difficult and disconcerting fact situation.
14 The circumstances surrounding the jury's deliberations in this case immediately raise the question of whether Billingsley waived his right to be present through his counsel, Robert Burke. During the conference with the judge and opposing counsel held after the jury began deliberations, Burke plainly purported to waive Billingsley's as well as his own right to be present at the reading of the verdict and to poll the jury on that verdict. 5 Moreover, there was no particular reason for the court to doubt Burke's representations that Billingsley intended to waive these rights since Burke stated at the conference that he had told Billingsley that the jury might reach a verdict that day, and since Billingsley had previously been absent at several points during the trial. 6 Finally, Burke himself cannot be heard to complain that he was unfairly deprived of a chance to respond to the jury's inquiry, because he could not be reached at the phone number that he left with the court precisely for that purpose. 7 15 We are therefore tempted to dispose of defendant's contention simply by finding his right to be present under Rule 43 waived, as we did some time ago on strikingly similar facts in United States v. Blount, 339 F.2d 331 (7th Cir.1964). As in the instant case, the trial judge in Blount instructed both counsel after the jury began deliberating to leave phone numbers where they could be reached. In Blount, however, the jury did not submit a question to the court, but rather returned a verdict soon after beginning its deliberations. The trial judge thereupon sought to contact defendant's counsel at the number he provided, but after failing in this effort proceeded to read and approve the jury verdicts in open court. In rejecting the defendant's contention that the trial court erred in receiving the verdicts in his absence, the court stated: 16 Only the alacrity with which defense counsel absented themselves from the courtroom when the jury retired to consider its verdicts explains why they and defendant were not there. It was no fault of the court or of the government. Under these circumstances none of defendant's rights was violated and we find no error occurred. 17 Id. at 334. At first glance, this language seems to apply perfectly to the present case. See also United States v. Friedman, 593 F.2d 109, 121 (9th Cir.1979) (defendant waived his presence at receipt of verdict and polling of jury by disobeying the court's instructions to remain near enough to the courthouse to return within fifteen minutes of receipt of notice of the return of the jury). 18 Still, we are troubled by the fact that there is nothing in the record from the mouth of the defendant himself waiving his right generally to be present and represented by counsel during jury deliberations, or specifically to respond to questions propounded by the jury. This circuit previously stressed the significance of these rights in United States v. Burns, 683 F.2d 1056 (7th Cir.1982) (per curiam), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1173, 103 S.Ct. 821, 74 L.Ed.2d 1018 (1983). In Burns, we noted the Supreme Court's holding in Rogers that questions from a jury should be answered in open court and defendant's counsel should be given an opportunity to be heard before the court responds to them. Burns, 683 F.2d at 1058 (discussing United States v. Rogers, 422 U.S. at 39, 95 S.Ct. at 2094). More to the point, we stated: In the absence of a clear waiver by the defendant personally, we feel the district courts in this Circuit should make every effort to observe the procedures endorsed in the Rogers opinion. Burns, 683 F.2d at 1058 n. 1 (emphasis added). Because the right to respond to jury communications is so important, and because this right ultimately belongs to the criminal defendant himself, we reaffirm that the preferred practice is either to follow the procedures outlined in Rogers, or to obtain a clear and knowing waiver from the defendant on the record. Thus, rather than permitting defense counsel alone to waive both his own and the defendant's presence during jury deliberations--and thereby to deny the defendant any opportunity to respond to jury communications--the preferred procedure would be to hold an on-the-record hearing in which the trial judge could explain to the defendant his rights, and the defendant could personally waive these rights if he so wished. Under the peculiar circumstances of this case, we therefore hesitate to rest our decision on a waiver theory. 8
19 We are nevertheless confident from a review of the record that Billingsley was not prejudiced by the trial court's direction that the jury continue deliberating in response to the question concerning Billingsley's claimed exemptions. By so directing the jury, the court maintained strict neutrality and avoided the dangers inherent in communicating with the jury on substantive matters in the absence of defendant and his counsel. Cf. Burns, 683 F.2d at 1058-59 (discussing such dangers and finding reversible error where the trial judge entered the jury room and explained to the jury the overt act requirement in a conspiracy trial without giving prior notice to defendants or their counsel). 20 In cases where trial judges have responded to a jury query in a similarly neutral and nonsubstantive manner, courts have found no prejudice to the defendant resulting from the response. See, e.g., United States v. Ford, 632 F.2d 1354, 1378-79 (9th Cir.1980) (no possibility of prejudice where judge permitted transcript of testimony to be read to jury in absence of defendant, but made no comments on the evidence and gave no additional instructions), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 934, 101 S.Ct. 1399, 67 L.Ed.2d 369 (1981); United States v. Higgans, 507 F.2d 808, 813 (7th Cir.1974) (no prejudice where trial judge simply denied jury's request for a transcript of all the testimony); United States v. Reynolds, 489 F.2d 4, 7-8 (6th Cir.1973) (no prejudice where trial judge responded to jury's question regarding a particular fact by saying simply that the jury could have no further information), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 988, 94 S.Ct. 2395, 40 L.Ed.2d 766 (1974). Indeed, in one of the very cases cited by the defendant, the court found it to be harmless error for a trial judge to respond to a deadlock note from a jury by merely instructing them to continue deliberating. United States v. Rodriguez, 545 F.2d 829, 830-31 (2d Cir.1976), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 819, 98 S.Ct. 58, 54 L.Ed.2d 74 (1977). 21 Billingsley initially sought to establish a reasonable possibility of prejudice in this case by arguing that the judge's response implicitly threatened the jury that they would be held over if they did not reach a verdict that day. This contention is based on some ambiguity in the record over whether the jurors were told only to continue deliberating (as the government assumes), or whether they were also told that they would be re-instructed the next morning if they could not reach a verdict (as Billingsley assumes). Even if Billingsley's assumption is correct, the judge's prior, very specific statements to the jury that they would not be held later than 4:45 P.M. that day vitiates any danger that the jurors would fear being held over. 22 Defendant's further contention that he was prejudiced because the court's failure to answer the jury's question left the jury confused about an issue critical to the defense is also without merit. 9 Billingsley's defense based upon the intrastate or private offerings exemption was supported solely by his own bare assertions, which were rebutted by uncontradicted documentary and testimonial evidence introduced by the government. Moreover, while further explanation of the specific exemptions Billingsley had claimed might conceivably have aided the jury in evaluating his more substantial good faith defense, the jury had heard sufficient and more directly relevant evidence with which it could evaluate that defense, and further instruction on the claimed exemptions might just as easily have confused rather than enlightened the jury. 23 In sum, we find no possibility of prejudice to Billingsley resulting from the trial court's instruction to the jury and, therefore, any error that occurred was harmless.