Court Opinion

ID: 9629858
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:51:17.333117+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:25.612790
License: Public Domain

CHASANOW, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. In the instant case, the second jury poll established that the trial judge was correct in his assumption that when juror number four responded to the jury poll “reluctantly, yes,” the juror “really wasn’t reluctant and that when he said yes, he meant yes.” There is no reason why the judge should be reversed merely because he conducted a second poll of the jury without first sending them back to the jury room.

LATTISAW V. STATE

In Lattisaw v. State, 329 Md. 339, 619 A.2d 548 (1993), after a verdict of guilty was returned as to both counts, Lattisaw requested that the jury be polled. The clerk of the court asked each juror whether his or her individual verdict was the same as the verdict of the jury as a whole. All responded, “yes, it is,” except for juror Patricia Kiefer, who replied, “yes, with reluctance.” A bench conference was held and defense counsel pointed out for the record that the juror was visibly upset and shaking her head as she responded. The prosecutor expressed no objection to this proffer. The trial judge, believing he had no discretion to probe into the meaning of the juror’s response, simply enrolled the verdict. This Court reversed, holding that, under the totality of circumstances, the juror’s response was ambiguous and the trial judge had abused his discretion in failing to “cure the ambiguity.” Lattisaw, 329 Md. at 346-47, 619 A.2d at 551-52. The Court also suggested that, if a juror’s response is ambiguous, the judge should cure the ambiguity by either sending the jury back to the jury room for further deliberations or by further interrogating the juror in a non-coercive manner. If, however, the juror’s response, under the totality of circumstances, is deter*296mined by the judge not to be ambiguous then the judge may accept the verdict.
The instant case is distinguishable from Lattisaw. The judge, in the instant case, assumed that the response was ambiguous and cleared up any possible ambiguity in a non-coercive manner by having the clerk again poll the jury. When a jury is polled and one juror responds “with reluctance, yes” or something similar, the trial judge may get some indication from the juror’s tone, manner of answering and demeanor that the juror is expressing uncertainty about the decision or that the juror is merely expressing reluctance or unhappiness with having to render the decision.
The law in this area was well summed up in an annotation, “Juror’s Reluctant, Equivocal, or Conditional Assent to Verdict, On Polling, as Ground for Mistrial or New Trial in Criminal Case,” 25 A.L.R.3d 1149 (1969, 1995 Cum.Supp.). That annotation, which was cited with approval in Lattisaw, states:
“It has been recognized that where the juror indicates merely some degree of reluctance or reservation about the verdict, the proper course of action depends largely upon the discretion of the trial judge; that whether the juror has given his free and voluntary assent, or whether his reluctance to assent is so strong that it is extremely unlikely that he will ever voluntarily agree to the verdict, must be determined by the trial judge not only from the exact words used by the juror, but from all the circumstances, including the juror’s expression and demeanor; and that in the absence of extraordinary circumstances compelling a conclusion to the contrary, the determination of the trial judge will not be disturbed on appeal.” (Footnote omitted).
25 A.L.R.3d at 1151-52.
IF THE JUROR’S RESPONSE WAS AMBIGUOUS THE TRIAL JUDGE TOOK PROPER ACTION TO SECURE AN UNAMBIGUOUS RESPONSE FROM THE JUROR
The trial judge in the instant case, although not convinced that the juror’s response was ambiguous, assumed that it was *297and took appropriate corrective action to have the juror render an unambiguous verdict. If a juror’s response to the jury poll is deemed ambiguous, then the trial judge has the discretion to take some non-coercive action to attempt to secure an unambiguous response. See Lattisaw, supra.
When a juror gives an ambiguous response to a jury poll, two responses by the trial judge were suggested by dicta in Lattisaw. We said:
“To cure the ambiguity in Kiefer’s verdict, the trial court may have employed either of two options. The safest course would be for the court to send the jury out for further deliberations in accordance with Maryland Rule 4-327(e), supra, with the simple instruction that their verdict must be unanimous. Alternatively, the trial court may attempt to clarify the juror’s ambiguous response by questioning the juror directly. In doing so, however, the court must be careful not to influence or coerce the juror’s decision during the course of the questioning.
We believe, however, that a limited exchange for the sole purpose of clarifying a juror’s ambiguous response may be productive in averting unwarranted further deliberation and delay, where the juror in fact concurs with the verdict once the ambiguity is resolved. In State v. Frederick, 783 S.W.2d 469 (Mo.App.1990), for example, the court wrote:
‘Questioning about a juror’s verdict by a trial judge in open court “need not be ‘inherently’ coercive.” The reviewing court must distinguish between a court’s effort to eliminate confusion and its attempt to compel an answer. The trial court errs if it continues to question a juror only after that juror’s answers clearly evince disagreement with the verdict.’ [ (Citations omitted).]
Id. at 472, quoting State v. Jackson, 522 S.W.2d 317, 32[1] (Mo.App.1975). See also State v. Hatch, 724 S.W.2d 643, 645 (Mo.App.1986) (‘the trial judge may make inquiry in a *298genteel, polite, non-leading and non-coercive manner that will clarify a juror’s response’).” (Footnote omitted).
Lattisaw, 329 Md. at 347-48, 619 A.2d at 552.
Obviously any action by a trial judge immediately after a juror responds to a jury poll with “reluctantly, yes” is going to hint to the juror that “reluctantly, yes” is an unacceptable answer. There is almost no way that the trial judge can cure an ambiguity -without letting the juror know that the previously given ambiguous answer is inappropriate. What the trial judge must carefully avoid is improperly coercing the juror into giving another answer. Appellate courts must not be naive and must acknowledge that none of the alternatives available to the trial judge are totally free from coercion.
Lattisaw’s “safest course” of sending the jury out for further deliberations “with the simple instruction that their verdict must be unanimous,” 329 Md. at 347, 619 A.2d at 552 (footnote omitted), is the best way to deal with a juror who clearly has a doubt about the correctness of the verdict announced by the foreperson. Where a juror has not yet reached a verdict, sending the jury back to deliberate is the only alternative, but it is certainly not free from coercion. In Mayfield v. State, 302 Md. 624, 490 A.2d 687 (1985), we recognized the possible coercive effect of sending a jury back to the jury room to continue deliberations after the jury announced they were deadlocked eleven to one. Judge Eldridge, writing for the Court, stated:
“It is possible, as the dissenting judge in the Court of Special Appeals argued, that a single minority juror might feel coerced by an ABA approved Allen-type charge when that juror believes that the trial judge is aware that there is only one holdout. On the other hand, if a trial judge in this situation were simply to direct that the jurors continue deliberations, without giving any instruction concerning their responsibilities, the lone holdout might also infer that the directive was aimed at him. An instruction to continue deliberations, without any amplification, may arguably be *299more coercive upon the minority than the ABA recommended Allen-type charge.
Mayfield, 302 Md. at 631, 490 A.2d at 691. It takes little imagination to envision what is almost certain to happen when the reluctant juror goes back into the jury room with the other eleven people who have found the defendant guilty and announced in open court that their verdict is unanimous. If our reason for sending the reluctant juror back to the jury room is our fear that anything else might be coercive, we should ask ourselves what could be more potentially coercive for the juror than being alone with eleven other jurors who have just told the entire courtroom that the jury’s verdict is unanimous and that the defendant is guilty. This is, however, still the best course of action when the trial judge concludes that a juror has not yet reached a verdict.
Lattisaw expressly permits questioning a “reluctant” juror in open court if done in a non-coercive manner. When a trial judge concludes that a “reluctant” juror has probably reached a verdict, but is uncertain about a juror’s response and wants some verification, it would seem perfectly proper for the judge or the clerk to simply repeat the poll question, “Is your foreperson’s verdict your verdict?” This repetition of the jury poll inquiry does not seem at all coercive. The majority holds that to simply begin the poll again is reversible error unless before beginning the poll again the judge first sends the jury back to the jury room. No reason whatsoever is given for this distinction. There is no reason why the trial judge must stop the poll, send the jury back to the jury room, and start the poll again when they return rather than, as in the instant case, simply starting the jury poll again without sending them to the jury room. The trial judge’s decision to begin the poll again without sending the jury back to the jury room should not constitute an abuse of discretion.
Lattisaw expressly authorized the trial judge to attempt to clarify the juror’s response by questioning the juror directly. There is one impermissible inquiry, however, “[fjor a trial court to demand a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer ordinarily is improper compulsion.” Lattisaw, 329 Md. at 348, 619 A.2d at *300552. To demand a' yes or no answer does not allow the juror to repeat the previously given answer and forces the juror to make a choice when the juror may not have reached a decision. The trial judge in the instant case did not demand that the juror answer either yes or no or force the juror to reach a decision. He simply had the jury repolled. I have found no case, nor has the majority cited any case, that even remotely suggests that it is improper or coercive for the trial judge or the clerk to simply repeat the poll of the jurors. Indeed, this Court has indicated that a second poll is non-coercive. See Smith v. State, 299 Md. 158, 472 A.2d 988 (1984). Although said in a slightly different context, what this Court stated in Smith is equally applicable to thé instant case. In Smith we stated:
“We find no error on the part of the judge in permitting the forelady to be polled a second time at the request of the State. We first note that the forelady, upon inquiry by the judge, indicated that she wanted to be polled again and that defense counsel interposed no objection. The forelady’s response to the first poll was not entirely free of equivocation, ambiguity and evasiveness. The judge was in a position of assessing this initial response of the juror, giving due consideration to her demeanor, appearance and tone of voice. The judge apparently believed that the first poll did not reflect the forelady’s true intent, and we cannot say that allowing the second polling was an abuse of judicial discretion. We observe that there is not the slightest indication that the judge in any way did anything amounting to coercion or tending to influence the verdict.”
Smith, 299 Md. at 179, 472 A.2d at 998. The standard jury poll question is less coercive than almost any alternative form of inquiry, since the juror is free to repeat the same answer, indicate uncertainty as to the verdict, or eliminate any unnecessary surplusage in the previous answer. Repeating the jury poll question seems a safer inquiry than calling upon the juror to explain “with reluctance.” Requiring the juror to explain his or her answer may elicit privileged information about the jury’s deliberations.
*301THE JUROR’S UNEQUIVOCAL RESPONSE CURED ANY POSSIBLE DEFECT IN THE PROCEDURE OR AMBIGUITY IN THE JUROR’S PRIOR RESPONSE
Finally, since the second poll was not coercive, the juror’s subsequent unequivocal response cured any ambiguity in the juror’s initial response. Once the previously “reluctant” juror gave an unambiguous response to a non-coercive second poll of the jury, any possible defect in the first polling or in the procedure should be deemed cured. This was noted in the previously cited A.L.R. Annotation:
“Where a juror’s equivocal, ambiguous, inconsistent, or evasive answers leave doubt as to whether he has assented to the verdict, but his answers are not such as to indicate involuntariness or coercion, it is generally regarded that a subsequent answer which indicates clear and unequivocal assent, either on further interrogation or after further deliberation, will cure the defect and a new trial will not be ordered.” (Footnote omitted).
25 A.L.R.3d at 1152.
Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language 2106 (2d ed. 1959) states: “Reluctant often implies an internal struggle.” It is sometimes difficult for jurors to reach a verdict in a criminal case. When a juror answers a jury poll “reluctantly, yes,” it may be nothing more than intellectual honesty. The juror may be merely indicating that, although he or she is now convinced of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, that conclusion was reached only after a difficult internal struggle. The trial judge, observing the juror throughout the trial and during the rendition of the verdict, is in the best position to interpret the response and to gauge the best method of clearing up any ambiguity. The trial judge in the instant case did not abuse his discretion, and there is no need to reverse the conviction since, after a noncoercive second poll, the juror indicated unequivocally that the foreperson’s announced verdict was also his verdict.
Judge RAKER has authorized me to state that she joins the views expressed in this dissenting opinion.