Opinion ID: 1657574
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 18

Heading: the court erred in coercing a verdict from the jury which had returned a defective verdict.

Text: Russell argues in this assignment of error that the trial judge coerced the jury into amending their verdict to show that they found the two aggravators beyond a reasonable doubt. The thrust of Russell's appeal appears to be that the jury's written verdict should have stated that they found the two aggravators beyond a reasonable doubt. Russell argues that the trial judge's question as to whether the jury found the two aggravators beyond a reasonable doubt constituted impermissible coercion. This coercion, Russell argues, merits reversal of his death sentence. Notwithstanding Russell's argument, we note that Russell failed to lodge a contemporaneous objection at trial to this alleged error. This Court will not address errors on appeal where the defendant failed to raise a contemporaneous objection at trial. Therefore, we find that Russell is procedurally barred from raising this issue on appeal. Foster v. State, 639 So.2d 1263 (Miss. 1994), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 115 S.Ct. 1365, 131 L.Ed.2d 221 (1995).