Opinion ID: 465428
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The jury should have been instructed to begin deliberations anew.

Text: 183 After substituting Weinstein for Greeson, the trial judge failed to instruct the jury that it should begin its deliberations anew, or that the jurors should review the evidence with Weinstein. Such instructions would have permitted Weinstein to consider the observations of the other jurors, and would have permitted the others to consider Weinstein's observations. See United States v. Phillips, supra, 664 F.2d at 991. Only three minutes after Weinstein entered the jury room, the jury returned a verdict of guilty. 184 Weinstein was sent into the jury room to begin deliberations on the case for the first time at 12:42 a.m. Under these circumstances, there was a great danger that Weinstein would be coerced into joining the majority in a determinative vote before full and meaningful deliberations had been conducted. See United States v. Lamb, 529 F.2d 1153, 1156 (9th Cir.1975). The fact that the deliberations lasted only three minutes is an overwhelming indication that the deliberations were curtailed in just this manner. See State v. Lehman, 108 Wis.2d 291, 321 N.W.2d 212 (1982) (substitution of juror not harmless where pre-substitution jury deliberated for one hour and 35 minutes, and post-substitution jury deliberated for one hour and 21 minutes). By sending Weinstein into the jury room at that late hour with no supplemental instructions, the trial court denied petitioner his right to a unanimous jury verdict reached through full and fair deliberations, and rendered petitioner's trial fundamentally unfair. 185 The Supreme Court recently reiterated that, for a proceeding to be consistent with the requirements of the Due Process Clause, the proceeding must not be fundamentally unfair. Wainwright v. Greenfield, --- U.S. ----, ----, 106 S.Ct. 634, 639-40, 88 L.Ed.2d 623 (1986). Because petitioner's trial was fundamentally unfair, his conviction was obtained in violation of the Due Process Clause and should be set aside. Accordingly, I dissent. 186