Opinion ID: 347081
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the weapons charge

Text: 8 The principal issue in this appeal is whether the verdict delivered after the jury's discharge is sustainable. A further development of the factual background on this point is helpful. 9 The jury began its deliberation on Friday afternoon, February 20, 1976, at 3:35 P.M., and continued until 2:30 A.M. the following morning. 1 It resumed deliberations at 10:24 A.M., and at 2:34 P.M. was called into the courtroom by the trial judge. He told the jurors he believed a deadlock had been reached and it would not be fruitful to continue deliberations. The judge concluded by commending them for their efforts. No comments were made by the jurors, who were then dismissed and told to report for further duty on the following Monday morning. 10 Less than an hour later, the jury foreman telephoned the trial judge and advised him that a verdict had been reached as to Count II (the weapons charge). He said that the verdict slip was in an unsealed envelope in a drawer in the jury room. At the trial judge's direction, a court official then telephoned the foreman who precisely described the location of the verdict slip. After the court employee found two envelopes at the special place, he delivered them to the trial judge who directed that they be sealed. 11 On Monday morning, February 23, 1976, the jurors reassembled in the courtroom. In the absence of the trial judge, another district judge presided, and the foregoing facts were entered in the record. The foreman read the verdict of guilty and, on the poll, all the jurors agreed with the finding. In response to a question from the presiding judge, the foreman stated that the verdict on Count II had been agreed upon shortly after 10:00 P.M. on Friday evening. At no time did the defendant object to the dismissal of the jury on the preceding Saturday afternoon or its reconvention and return of the verdict on Monday. 12 An examination of the exhibits in this case reveals a separate verdict slip for Count II, with each juror's signature below the finding. 13 The defendant now contends that since the jury had been discharged on Saturday, permitting it to return a verdict on Monday constituted double jeopardy. We conclude that if there was any procedural defect, the defense's failure to object, either before the verdict was announced or immediately thereafter, constituted waiver. Estelle v. Williams, 425 U.S. 501, 96 S.Ct. 1691, 48 L.Ed.2d 126 (1976). Moreover, we hold that absent an objection, the trial judge's decision to declare a mistrial on Saturday afternoon was not reversible error. 14 At early common law, a jury could not separate before it had rendered a verdict, and the action of the jury here likely would have been declared a nullity. However, much of the rigidity characterizing the common law concept of the jury trial has been relaxed by a more pragmatic approach. As one example, we have held it permissible for jurors to disperse during the period of deliberations. United States v. Piancone, 506 F.2d 748 (3d Cir. 1974); Byrne v. Matczak, 254 F.2d 525 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 358 U.S. 816, 79 S.Ct. 24, 3 L.Ed.2d 58 (1958). 15 Earlier case law had shown a tendency to accept some non-prejudicial procedural irregularities. In Humphries v. District of Columbia, 174 U.S. 190, 19 S.Ct. 637, 43 L.Ed. 944 (1889), the Supreme Court decided that a verdict was not a nullity even though only eleven jurors were present when it was read. The twelfth juror, unable to appear because of illness, had his personal physician deliver the verdict slip to the court. The other eleven jurors agreed on the poll that the verdict was theirs, and that they had seen the absent juror sign the slip. The Court concluded that, assuming a procedural defect in the inability of the losing party to poll all twelve jurors, the matter was not jurisdictional and was to be treated as other assignments of error. 16 Two district court cases, Finn v. Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corp., 68 F.Supp. 423 (W.D.Pa.1946), and Mattice v. Maryland Casualty Co., 5 F.2d 233 (W.D.Wash.1925), held that a jury cannot be reconvened for a poll. But another district court held it permissible to reassemble a jury soon after its verdict had been recorded where there had obviously been a serious error in the process. Brown v. Gunter, 428 F.Supp. 889 (D.Mass.1977). 17 In Progner v. Eagle, 377 F.2d 461 (4th Cir. 1967), the Court of Appeals directed the district court to reconvene the panel from which a jury had been selected so that a voir dire question, omitted in the selection process, could be propounded to the jurors. If, after inquiry, the district court determined that the composition of the trial jury would have been the same, the verdict was to stand. The Court of Appeals explained its action: Our purpose is simply to prevent, if possible, a retrial of a case once precisely otherwise tried. Progner v. Eagle, supra, at 462. We believe such a policy is desirable. 18 Not surprisingly, the research of counsel and our own has not uncovered any case similar to the one under consideration. Appraising the situation in the light of modern theory and on the specific facts present here, we conclude the verdict is valid. 19 The jury had, in fact, agreed upon their finding on Count II, and, although it would not become effective until announced in open court, United States v. Taylor, 507 F.2d 166 (5th Cir. 1975), the verdict was returned in proper form. Only the trial judge's failure to inquire whether the jurors had reached a verdict on either count before discharging them caused the hiatus. The fact that the jurors had signed the verdict slip establishes that there was no change in their individual opinions between the Friday decision and the Monday open-court session. The defendant gambled upon what the verdict would be by failing to object to its rendition. Having chosen to learn what the jury had decided, there is no reason to now relieve him of the consequences of that choice.