Opinion ID: 1636806
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 21

Heading: Late Night Court Sessions

Text: The Appellant argues that the trial court committed reversible error by holding numerous late night court sessions. Specifically, the Appellant maintains that the late night sessions caused his attorneys to be tired and less effective than they normally would have been had they been given the opportunity for more rest. In State v. Parton, 817 S.W.2d 28, 33 (Tenn.Crim.App.1991), this court addressed the issue of late night court sessions as follows: It is clear in this state that late night court sessions should be scheduled only when unusual circumstances require it. McMullin, 801 S.W.2d at 832. Regardless of whether counsel or any juror objects, the late night sessions should be avoided; and they must be justified because of unusual circumstances. If the requisite unusual circumstances do exist and late night sessions are scheduled because of necessity, good practice would be to also let the record affirmatively reflect that all counsel and all jurors expressly agree. But the threshold question which must always be determined by the court is whether the circumstances justify the unusual session. First, we note that this issue has been waived for failure of defense counsel to object to the late hours at trial and for defense counsel's failure to raise this issue in the motion for new trial. See Tenn. R.App. P. 36(a). Notwithstanding the waiver, however, we find that the record does not support the Appellant's argument that the court kept excessively late hours during trial. During the two and one-half weeks of trial, sessions ran late on five of the thirteen nights. On the five late nights, two of which were jury selection, court concluded between 8:30 and 9:25 p.m. We also note that during this period, there were five off days where neither counsel nor the litigants had to report to court. Further, this was a sequestered jury from a distant county. The Tennessee Supreme Court has held that a determination of how long into the evening a trial should last is a matter within the discretion of the trial court. See Poe, 755 S.W.2d at 47. Although these five days may exceed the normal eight hour day, we do not find the sessions to be unreasonable in this particular case. This issue is without merit.