Opinion ID: 2357814
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Finality of the Verdict

Text: Until the case is removed from the jury's province the verdict may be altered or withdrawn by the jurors, or by the dissent or non-concurrence of any one of them. While the case is still within the province of the jury, the court may permit them to reconsider and correct the verdict, provided nothing be done amounting to coercion or tending to influence conviction or acquittal. See Hochheimer § 179. In the absence of a proper demand to have the jury polled, the hearkening and ensuing acceptance of the verdict finally removes the matter from the jury's consideration. But, despite a hearkening, if a demand for a poll is duly made thereafter, it is the acceptance of the verdict upon the poll that removes the verdict from the province of the jury. In other words, the jury has control of the verdict until it is final. Absent a demand for a poll, the verdict becomes final upon its acceptance when hearkened. When a poll is demanded, the verdict becomes final only upon its acceptance after the poll. When our opinions in cases decided prior to the adoption of what is now Rule 759 e are considered in the light of the Rule, their rationale remains sound. We stated in Givens that until the assent of the jury is expressed [by a hearkening], or by a poll, the jury has a right to retract, and that the verdict is not perfected until after the jury has expressed their assent in one of these ways. Id. 76 Md. at 487, 25 A. 689. See Hechter v. State, 94 Md. 429, 50 A. 1041 (1902) (jury cannot be allowed to make alteration after the verdict is recorded). We summed up this rule in Heinze v. State, 184 Md. 613, 42 A.2d 128 (1945): It is a fundamental principle that the verdict of a jury in a criminal case has no effect in law until it is recorded and finally accepted by the court.... Until the announcement that the verdict has been recorded, the jury have the right to amend or change any verdict; and when it is so amended it is the real verdict of the jury and it may be properly accepted by the court. Id. at 616-617, 42 A.2d 128. Accord, Glickman, 190 Md. at 526, 60 A.2d 216. It follows that: Any member of the jury has the right sua sponte to dissent from the verdict as announced by the foreman at any time before it is recorded and affirmed by the jury. Heinze 184 Md. at 616, 42 A.2d 128; Glickman 190 Md. at 526, 60 A.2d 216. It is only if no objection is made by any of the jurors or by the State or the accused [that] the verdict as announced is the verdict of the whole panel; and it is then the duty of the clerk to record the verdict and have it affirmed by the jury in the presence of the court by hearkening the jury to their verdict or, when required, by polling the jury. Heinze 184 Md. at 616, 42 A.2d 128; Glickman 190 Md. at 526, 60 A.2d 216. Thus it is that the basic teachings of Ford and its progeny are not disturbed by Rule 759 e. The Rule does no more than change the common law as to the finality of a judgment when, in the face of a completed hearkening, there is a demand for the jury to be polled. Of course, neither hearkening nor polling cures a verdict that is defective when it is hearkened or polled in its defective form. Williams, 60 Md. at 403-404; Ford, 12 Md. at 547-549. We declared in Heinze, 184 Md. at 617, 42 A.2d 128, and reiterated in Glickman, 190 Md. at 525, 60 A.2d 216, that [w]here a verdict is ambiguous, inconsistent, unresponsive, or otherwise defective, it is the duty of the trial judge to call the jury's attention to the defect and to direct them to put the verdict in proper form either in the presence of the court or by returning to their consultation room for the purpose of further deliberation. [11] Heinze notes a caveat: The law does not permit the judge to suggest the alteration of a verdict in substance. He must not throw the weight of his influence into the deliberations of the jury as to matters exclusively within their province. Id. 184 Md. at 618, 42 A.2d 128.