Opinion ID: 1442022
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Remand on Reversal of Judgment for Coerced Verdict.

Text: Defendant urges this court to adopt a rule that, when a 1977 death penalty case is reversed because of coercion of verdict, the case must be remanded with directions to the trial court to enter a sentence of life without possibility of parole. The rule would apply here, it is suggested, because the trial judge should have declared a hung jury but instead permitted events to exert undue pressure on the jury to reach a verdict. (11) The allegation that the jury was hopelessly deadlocked, entitling defendant to the benefit of the statutorily mandated sentence of life without parole, is without foundation in the record. A jury may be discharged after submission without reaching a verdict when at the expiration of such time as the court may deem proper, it satisfactorily appears that there is no reasonable probability that the jury can agree. (§ 1140.) The determination whether there is reasonable probability of agreement rests in the sound discretion of the trial court. ( People v. Rodriguez (1986) 42 Cal.3d 730, 775 [230 Cal. Rptr. 667, 726 P.2d 113].) The judge did not abuse her discretion when, learning of the impasse, she inquired whether there was anything she could do to assist the jury in arriving at any kind of verdict. As illustrated above, the trial court exercised its authority without coercion of the jury.