Court Opinion

ID: 9647911
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 13:54:56.911159+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:23:59.121470
License: Public Domain

SEILER, Judge,
dissenting.
It is not for nothing that MAI-CR 1.10 throughout the Missouri court system, from trial to appellate courts, is referred to as the “hammer.” Why is it called the “hammer” by judges and lawyers alike if not in recognition of its inherent coercive quality? Instead of expanding the circumstances in which it can be used, as the proposed opinion does, I believe we should give serious consideration to abolishing the instruction altogether, or at least prohibiting its use when the judge is aware which way the jury is leaning and the jury is aware that he knows. We all know it is given for the purpose of inducing a verdict — in other words, to influence a jury which is in disagreement. It is particularly coercive when the jury knows that the judge knows how they stand as to guilt or innocence. What else could it mean to the lone juror in this case except that the judge believed he should reconsider his vote? Does any one seriously contend the jury thought the judge meant that the eleven who were for guilt should reconsider their vote? Defendant’s contention that he was prejudiced under these circumstances is not speculation— it is based on plain common sense. Of course, there is no way defendant can prove in court what the jurors thought, as jurors are not permitted to testify in impeachment of their verdict. Romandel v. Kansas City Public Service Co., 254 S.W.2d 585, 595 (Mo.1953). But that does not mean we should ignore the effect we know this instruction would have on the average juror who is on the minority side, especially when the vote is eleven to one.
The boiler plate language in MAI-CR 1.10 about “no juror should ever find as a fact that which under the evidence and his conscience he believes to be untrue” is self-serving protestation, buried in the instruction, after the judge, knowing how the jury. stands on guilt or innocence, has made it plain that there should be a verdict in every case and that all this has taken “considerable time and effort”, the unspoken implication being that there is something unworthy or unfit in the minority not yielding to the majority. It tends to make the minority feel guilty or out of step.
It is not correct to imply there must be a verdict in every case. The jury has the right to remain in disagreement, to end up a hung jury, just as much as it has a right to arrive at a verdict. No jury has to arrive at a verdict. It has the power to return a verdict for one side or the other or to disagree on any verdict. It is an abuse of the jury system to imply or declare otherwise.
It is vital to the jury system that once the jury retires to consider its verdict that its independence be scrupulously observed. There is no more justification for letting the judge interfere with this independence than there would be for letting the sheriff or the lawyers try to influence the jury after it had retired. We long ago decided in Missouri that once the jury gets the case, then the outcome is solely in the hands of the jury. That is one Reason why we insist on a unanimous verdict in a criminal case. *655The “hammer” however, is a way of telling juries that they are not free to decide as they see fit, that they should instead come to an agreement, because the judge believes they should, particularly where the jury knows the judge knows how they stand as to guilt or innocence. It introduces extraneous and improper factors. It misstates the law. It is not true that parties are necessarily entitled to have their rights determined in every case, as though there is something wrong if the jurors do not arrive at a verdict or that the jurors are somehow liable to society or the parties if a verdict is not reached. Nor is it true that because a lawsuit involves time and money that the jury must reach a verdict in every case. What relevance do time and money have to questions of guilt or innocence?
The jury system is under attack. It is shrinking in size, in usage, and in strength. The “hammer” instruction, particularly as it was used here, produces still further weakening of the jury system. It brings in an outside influence to interfere with the jury’s deliberations after the jury has retired to consider its verdict, the very time when it should be held sacrosanct. It is even worse when, as here, the outside influence is brought to bear by the judge himself when the jury knows he knows how they stand. It is a direct assault by the judge on the independence of the jury, no matter how noble the motive of the judge.1
The principal opinion neatly avoids the issue by saying that since the “crux of the instruction” is the admonishment that no juror should “agree to a verdict that violates the instruction of the court, nor find as a fact that which under the evidence and his conscience he believes to be untrue”, any contention that the instruction is coercive is refuted by the terms of the instruction. Under this reasoning, the giving of MAI-CR 1.10 would always be error free and safely within the discretion of the trial court, no matter what the facts were, as the instruction would always contain the saving language. We should not issue our guaranty that giving MAI-CR 1.10 will be error free. This is the effect of the above reasoning. This would mean the action of the trial judge in giving the hammer is beyond review, a dangerous doctrine.
The judge’s action in requiring further deliberation under MAI-CR 1.10 when the jury knew he was aware they were eleven to one for conviction spoke much louder than his words. The judge abused his discretion and we should say so.
I dissent and would reverse and remand for a new trial.

. The proposed opinion states that “hammer” instructions have been upheld since before the turn of the century. Significantly, however, the opinion does not cite any case upholding the giving of the “hammer” when as here, the judge knew how the jury stood on guilt or innocence and the jury knew that the judge knew.