Opinion ID: 1832620
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: incest verdict form

Text: Archie assigns error to the verdict form for the count of incest. Following the jury instructions, the case was submitted to the jury, and it found Archie guilty on both counts. However, when the verdicts were presented to the court, an issue arose with respect to the verdict form for the count of incest. At the jury instruction conference, the court had provided the parties with drafts of the verdict forms for each count of the information and the parties agreed that the verdict forms were acceptable. However, the verdict form for the count of incest was later found to be defective. Below the caption, the form incorrectly read: We, the Jury, duly impaneled and sworn in the above-entitled cause, do, with respect to the charge of First Degree Sexual Assault of a Child . . . find as follows . . . . Below that, the form correctly provided the jury with the options of finding Archie Guilty of Incest, Guilty of Attempted Incest, or Not Guilty. The court noticed the mistake when the bailiff was reading the verdict for the count of incest. The court told the jury: We can only read these things for so many times. With first degree sexual assault, find guilty of incest. This is a typographical error, obviously. It says incest. I'm going to have [the bailiff] read it as it says. It says guilty of incest. Then I'm going to ask them, notwithstanding the . . . differences in what it says, whether in fact the verdict is for guilty of the charge of incest. The court asked if that procedure was agreeable to the parties, and the parties indicated that it was. The court informed the jury of the mistake, calling it a scrivener's error, and admitted it was the court's mistake for not catching that. The court asked the jury, with respect to the count of first degree sexual assault on a child, whether the verdict of guilty was its unanimous verdict, and it indicated it was. The court then asked the jury with respect to the verdict form for the count of incest, which has the box checked, `Guilty of incest,' notwithstanding the fact that the body says, the very introduction says first degree sexual assault of a child, it says incest, guilty of incest, is this your unanimous verdict? All the jurors indicated that it was. The jury was polled, and each juror indicated agreement with the verdicts. Archie now claims that he was prejudiced by the erroneous verdict form. However, objections to the verdict form should be made at the jury instruction conference or at the time the verdict is returned. [53] Archie concedes that our review of this issue is for plain error. There is no question that the verdict form contained an error. The issue, then, is whether that error was so prejudicial that to leave it uncorrected would cause a miscarriage of justice or result in damage to the integrity, reputation, and fairness of the judicial process. [54] We have reviewed the record and examined the verdict forms, and based on that review and observation of the forms, we are convinced that the erroneous verdict form did not mislead the jury and that the verdicts rendered accurately reflected the jury's actual determination of Archie's guilt of both offenses. No plain error is present, and we reject Archie's fourth assignment of error.