Opinion ID: 1436943
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Instruction Given and Circumstances Under Which Given.

Text: At about 4:20 p.m. the trial judge completed his original instructions to the jury and it then retired for deliberation. At 8:45 p.m. (after the jury had been sent out for dinner) the jury sent the following note to the court: Our discussion is six guilty, six not guilty. The trial judge then informed counsel that he propose(d) to call the jury in and instruct them, after which each side may be permitted to take whatever exception it feels it should. Neither attorney objected to such a procedure. The trial judge then instructed the jury as follows: Members of the jury, it is now not quite 9:00 o'clock. You have been at work since about 4:30 this afternoon, omitting the dinner hour. The note you have sent in a moment ago indicates that your number stands six for one side and six for the other. It is my duty to urge you to reach a decision on this case. This case has to be tried either now or later. It is unlikely that this case will ever be tried by any jury more competent and more representative of the community than yourselves. It is unlikely that the evidence would be any different before any later trial than it was before this one and so it is important that the matter be resolved. Those of you who stand on one side of the question should give respectful attention and consideration to the views of those opposed. And vice-versa. None of this, however, should be construed by you as suggesting that I believe that you should not vote any other way than your own conscience based upon the evidence and the instructions in this case. None of us expect you to do anything other than that. But I am sure that you realize along with me that this case should be decided. It ought not to be decided unless it is decided by the appropriate number ten to two and it ought not to be decided unless those ten of you who concur, if you do, each reach your decision honestly base [sic] upon the evidence and the law and your own view of the matter; so nothing I say should be taken as meaning that I want any of you to vote other than what your own good judgment dictates. But for the reasons I have mentioned I urge you to go back and to deliberate further and see if you can reach a verdict. You may now be excused to the jury room. The jury then retired again and the court asked if there were any exceptions. No exceptions were taken by either attorney. At shortly after 11:00 o'clock p.m. the court sent the following note to the jury, with consent of counsel: Without indicating how your vote stands as to guilty or not guilty, please indicate how many are on one side and how many on the other. That note was sent back stating that nine were on one side and three on the other. The court then sent a further note, also with consent of counsel, asking if there was any reasonable chance of arriving at a verdict in the next thirty minutes. In response the jury sent out a note which read: If there is no resistance for a time and then just before penetration there is resistance, does it still constitute rape? Defendant then moved for a mistrial. That motion was denied, in effect, by the trial judge in stating that he proposed to reinstruct on rape. Defendant took a further exception to such an instruction, which was then given. The court then, at 12:10 a.m., gave the additional instruction on rape and concluded with the following: Further, I will repeat to you what I told you earlier this evening at about 9:00 o'clock. What we ask of you is the honest, conscientious individual vote of each one of you for any given verdict. We ask each of you on one side to carefully consider the discussions, points of view of those on the other side. And we point out to you that this case ought to be decided. If it is tried again in all likelihood the jury will be no better equipped than yourself, the jury will be similarly selected as you were in all likelihood, the evidence will be the same. And therefore, it is incumbent upon you to reach a verdict. Bearing in mind, however, that we do not expect any of you to vote one way or the other except according to your own conscience based upon the evidence and upon these instructions. I will now ask you to retire to deliberate further. No exception was taken to this instruction as an Allen or dynamite charge, as now contended. [4] At 12:28 a.m. the jury notified the bailiff that it had a verdict. Defendant's counsel then renewed his motion for a mistrial. [5] The jury then returned a verdict of guilty by a vote of ten to two and was then excused. No further exceptions or motions for mistrial were made at that time by defendant.