Court Opinion

ID: 9480415
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:47:08.641146+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:40.257116
License: Public Domain

SAFFELS, District Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
Although this judge concurs with the majority of the panel regarding most of its decisions on the issues raised in this appeal, I must write separately to express my disagreement with the majority on the issue of the Allen1 charge given in this case.
The majority relies on United States v. McKinney, 822 F.2d 946 (10th Cir.1987), to support its holding that the trial court did not commit error in giving an Allen instruction to the deliberating jury in this case. The majority reads McKinney as a blanket approval of the Allen instruction given to the deliberating jury in this case. This judge reads McKinney to simply stand for the proposition that the use of an *1489Allen instruction after a jury has begun deliberating must be reviewed on a case-by-case basis to determine whether the instruction had a coercive effect on the jury. See United States v. Porter, 881 F.2d 878, 888 (10th Cir.), cert. denied — U.S. —, 110 S.Ct. 348, 107 L.Ed.2d 336 (1989) and United States v. Mobile Materials, Inc., 881 F.2d 866, 878 (10th Cir.1989), cert. denied Philpot v. United States, — U.S. —, 110 S.Ct. 837, 107 L.Ed.2d 833 (1990). If an Allen instruction is to be given, the preferred procedure in this circuit is to give it at the same time as the other instructions and not after the jury has begun deliberating. See United States v. Blandin, 784 F.2d 1048, 1050 (10th Cir.1986), construed in McKinney, 822 F.2d at 951. The trial judge, however, may give an Allen instruction to a deliberating jury only if the instruction will not have a coercive effect on the jury. McKinney, 822 F.2d at 951.
This court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals have enumerated some factors that should be examined to determine whether an Allen instruction has a coercive effect: (1) the language of the instruction; (2) the instruction’s incorporation with other instructions; (3) the timing of the instruction, for example, whether given before the jury has commenced deliberation and whether given before the jury has reached an impasse or deadlock; (4) the total time of jury deliberation; and (5) the indicia of coercion or pressure on the jury. See Porter, 881 F.2d at 888 and United States v. Foster, 711 F.2d 871, 884 (9th Cir.1983), cert. denied 465 U.S. 1103, 104 S.Ct. 1602, 80 L.Ed.2d 132 (1984). These factors are relevant to the coercive or non-coercive nature of an Allen instruction.
After considering these factors, it is clear that the Allen instruction in this case was coercive. The jury’s note to the court is of particular relevance in indicating the instruction’s coercive effect. Upon reaching a verdict, the jury presented the following note to the court:
We the jury thank you, Your Honor, for your further instruction and comments, without which we would have failed. Jim MeGraw. (emphasis added).
This last note from the jury provides a clear indication that the Allen instruction was coercive. In addition, the instruction was given after the jury had reached an impasse and was obviously deadlocked.2 Also, the jury had deliberated for a substantial time, considering that the trial lasted only a day and a half, before reporting the deadlocked nature of their deliberations. Finally, the instruction given in this case was the traditional Allen instruction which encourages those jurors in the minority to reexamine their position; instead of a less coercive, modified Allen charge, which encourages each juror, whether in the majority or minority, to reconsider his or her position. See Porter, 881 F.2d at 889 (citing Lowenfield v. Phelps, 484 U.S. 231, 108 S.Ct. 546, 98 L.Ed.2d 568 (1988)).
After reviewing these factors, this judge is firmly convinced that the facts in the present case reflect that the Allen instruction had a coercive effect on this jury. Thus, a new trial is warranted. For the foregoing reasons, I cannot agree with the majority’s decision to the extent it approves the use of the Allen instruction under the particular facts of this case. I do agree, however, that the other decisions of the trial court, challenged in this appeal, should be affirmed.
Finally, this judge believes that, at some future time, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals should adopt the modern trend of prohibiting the use of Allen instructions, as a per se rule, once a jury commences its deliberations. As a panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has observed:
The modern judicial trend, however, is against the Allen charge. In the exercise of their supervisory power, three federal circuit courts have prohibited Al*1490len charges since 1969; and four other federal circuit courts have sharply curtailed their use. Moreover, during the last twenty-seven years, at least eighteen states have rejected the Allen charge.
Scholars have sharply criticized the Allen charge because of its coercive impact on juries.
United States v. Rey, 811 F.2d 1453, 1458 (11th Cir.), cert. denied 484 U.S. 830, 108 S.Ct. 103, 98 L.Ed.2d 63 (1987) (footnotes omitted). Such a per se rule would prevent any unwarranted intrusion by the court into the province of the jury.
Regardless of the fact that this court has not yet adopted the modern trend of prohibiting Allen charges, I remain convinced that under the particular facts of this case, the Allen charge had a coercive effect on the jury. Thus, applying the present law of this circuit, I would reverse the conviction and remand the case for a new trial.

. An Allen charge derives its name from jury instructions approved in Allen v. United States, 164 U.S. 492, 17 S.Ct. 154, 41 L.Ed. 528 (1896).

. After nearly nine hours of deliberation in a case that took only a day and a half to try, the jury sent the following note to the court:
The jury has been polled. All have voted to state we cannot reach a verdict of guilty or not guilty. James MeGraw. February 24, 1988.
Thereafter, the magistrate presiding over the trial of this case gave the jury the Allen charge in question.