Opinion ID: 1903008
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Allen Charge vs. Informal Instructions

Text: In order to strike a proper balance on this sensitive issue, the Supreme Court Committee on Standard Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases has carefully crafted an instruction that allows a jury to continue deliberations even after it has announced its inability to do so, where there is a reasonable basis to believe a verdict is possible, while cautioning jurors that they should not abandon their views just to get a verdict or to accommodate the majority. That standard instruction is commonly referred to as an Allen charge, based upon the United States Supreme Court case that discussed the concerns about interference with a jury's deliberations and decision. Many Florida courts have held that instructions which exceed the parameters set out in Allen are coercive in nature and constitute fundamental or harmful error. See Young v. State, 711 So.2d 1379 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998) (judge's deviation from Allen charge was error because it gave the appearance that the jury had to render a verdict); Rodriguez v. State, 559 So.2d 678 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990) (judge's comment to jury that it had been deliberating for almost three hours over a three-witness case was fundamental error); Webb v. State, 519 So.2d 748 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988) (judge's statement that jury verdict had to be unanimous and rendered on that night was coercive and fundamental error); Heddleson v. State, 512 So.2d 957 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987) (trial judge's comments which led the jury to believe that it had to reach a verdict in the time allotted for the trial otherwise the defendant would not be retried and would escape prosecution was reversible error); Warren v. State, 498 So.2d 472 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986) (judge's comments that he did not wish to try the case again, that retrial would be very costly and that he sincerely hoped the jury would return a verdict if at all possible infected the integrity of the fact finding process and constituted fundamental error); Nelson v. State, 438 So.2d 1060 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983) (judge's comments that no one would be served by the jury's inability to reach a verdict and that the jury was wasting its time required the jury to reach a coercive verdict and constituted reversible error). Notwithstanding these decisions, other courts have held some supplemental instructions deviating from an Allen instruction not to be fundamental or reversible error. See State v. Bryan, 290 So.2d 482 (Fla.1974) (trial judge's modified instruction was a balanced charge which encouraged neither acquittal nor conviction and stated that no juror was to abandon his conscientious convictions; therefore it was not error); State v. Roberts, 616 So.2d 79 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993) (trial judge's comments to the jury, after six and one-half hours of jury deliberations, that it was very important yet not essential to reach a verdict on that day did not impermissibly coerce the guilty verdict); Tejeda-Bermudez v. State, 427 So.2d 1096 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983) (even if defendant had objected to the modified Allen charge, the judge's instruction to the jury to continue after six hours of deliberation and after reporting deadlock was not coercive and did not constitute error). As noted, every Allen charge issue must be decided upon the particular facts and circumstances surrounding an individual case. See United States v. Taylor, 513 F.2d 70, 72 (5th Cir.1975). [7] Here, Thomas requested the Allen charge from the Standard Jury Instructions after the jury had deliberated for four hours and had heard the rereading of testimony for about another hour. However, the standard Allen charge was not given. Instead, although the jurors informed the judge they were deadlocked, the judge repeatedly asked them to continue deliberating in order to consider the rereading of the testimony and urged them to reach a unanimous verdict. The judge's statements actually constituted a modified Allen instruction and, as such, must be examined together with the judge's other statements throughout the jury's deliberations and the other prevailing circumstances to determine if they combined to create a serious risk of coercion. See Watson v. Alabama, 841 F.2d 1074, 1076 (11th Cir.1988) (noting that judge's instructions should be viewed in light of the overall charge by the trial court, not in isolation). The Allen charge contained in Florida Standard Jury Instruction (Criminal) 3.06 states in pertinent part: I have only one request of you. By law, I cannot demand this of you, but I want you to go back into the jury room. Then, taking turns, tell each of the other jurors about any weakness of your own position. You should not interrupt each other or comment on each other's views until each of you has had a chance to talk. After you have done that, if you simply cannot reach a verdict, then return to the courtroom and I will declare this case mistried, and will discharge you with my sincere appreciation for your services. (Emphasis added.) The record reflects that the judge's repeated instructions in this case urging the jury to try and try again after the jury was deadlocked left out precisely the important cautionary language in this standard instruction stating that the court would declare a mistrial and dismiss the jury if they tried but could not reach a verdict. Instead, in his repeated admonitions to the jury, the judge informed them he had to do everything he could to have them reach a verdict and to have the matter resolved to avoid having to start from the beginning. Complicating matters further, before the jury finally recessed in the morning, the foreman informed the court that the deliberations had broken down to open hostilities and that he believed the jury would never be able to reach a decision. In response, the judge again ordered the jury to return for more deliberations. A somewhat similar situation arose in Young v. State, 711 So.2d 1379 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998), where the court held that the judge's deviation from the standard jury instruction by one sentence was error. In Young, the jury began its deliberations at about 5 p.m. on the second day of trial. At or near 9 p.m., the jury informed the court that as a group, they could not agree on a verdict. At that point, the trial judge decided to give the jury an Allen charge. The trial judge also decided, however, that he did not want a mistrial that night and would bring the jury back the next morning if it could not reach a verdict. Because of his intent to return the jury the following morning, the trial judge modified the standard instruction, to which defense counsel objected. As stated above, the last sentence of Florida Standard Jury Instruction (Criminal) 3.06 reads: After you have done that, if you simply cannot reach a verdict, then return to the courtroom and I will declare this case mistried, and will discharge you with my sincere appreciation for your services. The trial judge omitted this sentence and, instead, substituted the following: After you have done that, if you simply cannot reach a verdict, then return to the courtroom and I will discharge you for the evening. The jury then resumed its deliberations and, approximately forty minutes later, returned a guilty verdict. Upon review, the court held that the judge had improperly modified the Allen charge. See 711 So.2d at 1379. More specifically, it stated that the trial court's modification of the Allen charge did precisely what should be avoided when giving a modified Allen charge; it gave the jury the appearance that it had to reach a verdict. See id. In the case at bar, the judge's instructions were not nearly as similar to the standard deadlock jury instructions as were the judge's instructions in Young, yet in that case, the court held them inappropriate.