Court Opinion

ID: 9709359
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 03:45:49.731783+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:48.039316
License: Public Domain

Justice RIVERA-SOTO,
dissenting.
In this case, the last words the jury heard before it began its deliberations were the following:
Very shortly, you mil retire to the jury room to commence your deliberations and apply the law that I’ve instructed to the facts as you determine [them] to be for the purpose [of] arriving at a fair and correct verdict. Now, this verdict must represent the considered judgment of each of you, and must be unanimous. It is your duty, as jurors, to consult with one another with a view towards reaching an agreement, if you can do so without any violence to your own individual judgment Each of you must decide the case for yourselves, but do so only after an impartial consideration of the evidence with your fellow jurors. In the course of your deliberations do not hesitate to reexamine your own views and/or change your opinions, if you are convinced they are erroneous, but do not surrender your honest conviction as to the weight or effect of evidence solely because of the opinion of your fellow jurors or for the mere purpose of returning a verdict.
You are not partisans, you are judges, you [are] judges of the facts, and your sole interest [is] to ascertain the truth from the evidence that has been admitted.
You are now in charge of the courtroom. You could deliberate as long as you want, and stop whenever you want and come back tomorrow, if you do. So we will be here for you----
The jury retired to deliberate; it was 2:44 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 2004. The jury deliberated that afternoon and returned to its deliberations the following morning.
Less than twenty-four hours after starting its deliberations, the jury sent a note stating that it “cannot unanimously agree[ ] on the verdict.” The trial court noted that “one day does not a deliberation make [because s]ometimes it takes time to go through the process.” The trial court explained the deliberative process *244the jury should undertake and closed with these cautionary observations:
I want you to continue, but I want you to do so keeping in mind what I said both now and earlier, the basic instructions that I delivered to you yesterday. I think if you focus on that process and what is being asked of you as a deliberating jury ■that, maybe, that will be of some assistance to you.
Would you please resume your deliberations. Thank you.
Counsel for defendant Robert Figueroa and his co-defendant jointly complained that the jury instructions the trial court had just provided were “too forceful” and requested that the jurors be reinstructed that “you should not surrender your views, etc., etc.” The trial court demurred, explaining that
I already told the jury in the basic charge and, which I encompassed by reference in the last charge, that [“]it is your duty as jurors to consult with one another [and] to deliberate with a view towards reaching an agreement, if you can do so without violence to your individual judgment. Each of you must decide the ease for yourselves, but do so only after impartial consideration of the evidence with fellow jurors. In the course of your deliberations do not hesitate to reexamine your own views and change your opinions, if convinced they are erroneous, but do not surrender your honest conviction as to the weight or effect of the evidence solely because of the opinion of your fellow jurors or for the mere purpose of returning a verdict!”]
And in that last charge [asking that the jury resume its deliberations,] I incorporate, by reference, my previous charge and tell them they must remember all aspects of it.
Tellingly, defense counsel specifically explained that no mistrial was sought because “[w]e want this jury.”
From this factual setting, the majority explains that it is squarely within “the sound discretion of the trial court to decide whether repeating the [Czachor1] charge is appropriate when a jury reports that it is unable to agree.” Ante, 190 N.J. at 235, 919 A.2d at 836 (2007). The majority rightly notes that, in this context, “our focus, in general, has been on limiting any kind of interference with the deliberative process, rather than on particular applications of the guidance in Czachor relating to jury deadlocks.” Id. at 236, 919 A.2d at 836 (citations omitted). Stated *245differently, the majority emphasizes that “the question is whether the supplemental instruction has improperly influenced the dissenting jurors to change their votes.” Id. at 238, 919 A.2d at 837. The majority recognizes that “[i]n light of the brevity of the deliberations, [there is] no error in the trial court’s decision not to inquire specifically about whether further deliberations would likely result in a verdict ... [and] because the jury had been deliberating only briefly, neither do[es the majority] fault the trial court for deciding to require the jury to continue its deliberations.” Id. at 239-40, 919 A.2d at 838-39.
It is in the application of these principles to this case that I must part company with the majority. In the majority’s view, “the supplemental charge violated the directives of Czachor in two fundamental respects.” Id. at 240, 919 A.2d at 838. As to the former, the majority is of the view that “[a] supplemental charge that directs a jury to continue deliberating but does not remind them of their obligation [to ‘not surrender your honest conviction as to the weight or effect on the evidence solely because of the opinion of your fellow jurors, or for the mere purpose of returning a verdict’2] poses a grave risk of being misunderstood by the jurors and therefore, of being coercive.” Id. at 240, 919 A.2d at 839 (footnote omitted).
In respect of the latter, the majority concludes that .the jury misunderstood — and was coerced by — the trial court’s following comment: “I got to be here tomorrow [Thursday], I got to be here Friday. I got nothing going on on Saturday, and [the] Giants are playing away on Sunday, so we will be here as long as it takes you to go through this process.” In the majority’s view, “[w]hile suggesting to a jury on a Wednesday that deliberations will continue through the weekend may simply convey to them that an abundant amount of time will be afforded to them to carefully weigh and analyze the evidence, the words themselves imply otherwise.” Id. at 227, 242, 919 A.2d at 831, 840. The majority *246“cannot agree that the jurors were not in fact under the impression that they would be required to continue to deliberate for as long as it might take to reach unanimity.” Id. at 242, 919 A. 2d at 840. The majority thus concludes that “taken together, the failure to utilize the model charge for further deliberations with its cautionary language and the reference to continuing to deliberate throughout the remainder of the week and through the weekend impermissibly coerced the dissenting juror or jurors into reaching a verdict with which he or she did not honestly agree.”' Ibid.
Because the majority reaches its conclusions by isolating portions of the jury charge, I disagree. In this context, our inquiry must begin and end with the core proposition that a jury charge must be examined in its entirety. We have made clear that “[i]n passing on the propriety of a trial court’s charge, an appellate court reviews all that was said on the particular subject being challenged, and if on reading the charge as a whole, prejudicial error does not appear, then the verdict must stand.” State v. Ramseur, 106 N.J. 123, 280, 524 A.2d 188 (1987) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted).
“This court has repeatedly held that portions of a charge alleged to be erroneous cannot be dealt with in isolation but the charge should be examined as a whole to determine its overall effect.” State v. Wilbely, 63 N.J. 420, 422, 307 A.2d 608 (1973). See also State v. Torres, 183 N.J. 554, 564, 874 A.2d 1084 (2005) (“The charge must be read as a whole in determining whether there was any error.”); State v. Savage, 172 N.J. 374, 387, 799 A.2d 477 (2002) (“A portion of a charge alleged to be erroneous, however, cannot be dealt with in isolation and should be examined as whole to determine its overall effect. The standard for assessing the soundness of a jury instruction is how and in what sense, under the evidence before them, and the circumstances of the trial, would ordinary jurors understand the instructions as a whole.” (citations, quotation marks and editing marks omitted)); State v. Delibero, 149 N.J. 90, 106-07, 692 A.2d 981 (1997) (quoting Wilbe*247ly, supra, 63 N.J. at 422, 307 A.2d 608); State v. Jordan, 147 N.J. 409, 422, 688 A.2d 97 (1997) (“In determining whether a charge was erroneous, the charge must be read as a whole.” (citing Wilbely)); State v. Loftin (I), 146 N.J. 295, 379, 680 A.2d 677 (1996) (“In reviewing claims of erroneous jury instructions, the passage in question should be evaluated in the context of the charge as a whole.” (citing Wilbely)); State v. Marshall (I), 123 N.J. 1, 145, 586 A.2d 85 (1991) (“[T]he prejudicial effect of an omitted instruction must be evaluated ‘in light of the totality of the circumstances — including all the instructions to the jury, [and] the arguments of counsel____’ ” (quoting Kentucky v. Whorton, 441 U.S. 786, 789, 99 S.Ct. 2088, 2089, 60 L.Ed.2d 640, 643 (1979))); State v. Maldonado, 137 N.J. 536, 579, 645 A.2d 1165 (1994) (“In determining the propriety of the charge, we must view the charge as a whole.”); State v. Biegenwald (II), 106 N.J. 13, 43, 524 A.2d 130 (1987) (“Challenged portions of a jury charge must not be read in isolation; rather, ‘the charge should be examined as a whole to determine its overall effect.’ ” (quoting Wilbely)); State v. Freeman, 64 N.J. 66, 69, 312 A.2d 143 (1973) (“In assaying the measure of success in the jury charge, we bear in mind the established principle that the reviewing court does not excise and examine in isolation those statements alleged to be obscure or ambiguous, but looks to the charge as a whole.”).
The principle that a challenged jury charge is to be reviewed in the context of the entire instruction extends to a challenged supplemental charge. Lowenfield v. Phelps, 484 U.S. 231, 237,108 S.Ct. 546, 550, 98 L.Ed.2d 568, 578 (1988) (stating that the Court “eonsider[s] the supplemental charge given by the trial court ‘in its context and under all the circumstances’ ” (quoting Jenkins v. United States, 380 U.S. 445, 446, 85 S.Ct. 1059, 1060, 13 L.Ed.2d 957, 958 (1965)); State v. Young, 181 N.J.Super. 463, 472-73, 438 A.2d 344 (App.Div.1981) (holding that an Allen charge was not coercive “[u]nder all the circumstances[,]” and after reviewing “the surrounding circumstances of [the] seven week jury trial[,]” the length of the jury deliberations, and the fact that “[t]here was no repeated giving of the [Allen ] charge over a short period of *248time”), certif. denied, 91 N.J. 222, 450 A.2d 549 (1982); see also United States v. Cheramie, 520 F.2d 325, 328 (5th Cir.1975) (“Where it is alleged that a supplemental charge coerced the jury in its decision-making, this court examines not only the language of the additional instruction but also the facts and circumstances which formed the context for the judge’s remarks.”) (citing Jenkins v. United States, supra )).3
We have also made clear that “[n]o party is entitled to have the jury charged in his or her own words; all that is necessary is that the charge as a whole be accurate.” State v. Jordan, supra, 147 N.J. at 422, 688 A.2d 97. This must be so because “[i]t is fundamental that a trial court is not bound to instruct a jury in the language requested by a party.” State v. Thompson, 59 N.J. 396, 411, 283 A.2d 513 (1971).
*249Those precepts, in my view, forbid the restricted approach adopted by the majority. Their fair application in this ease leads me to conclude that, because the trial court had — less than twenty-four hours before — charged the jury in the very words defendant claims should have been repeated here and because the trial court referenced its earlier charge in summing up the supplemental charge, I see no coercion here. Furthermore, the trial court’s comments concerning how long he would be placed at the jury’s disposal, including over the upcoming weekend, were innocuous when viewed in their proper context. First, the trial judge made clear that his expressions concerning being there for several days were made immediately after his explanation of precisely what we would want juries to undergo during the deliberations process. Second, the trial court explained that “we will be here as long as it takes you to go through this process” without once tilting the jury towards any verdict; again, the clearly understood focus was on the jury deliberations process, and not its result. Finally, in closing on the supplemental charge, the trial court reminded the jury that it was to continue its deliberations “keeping in mind what I said both now and earlier, the basic instructions that I delivered to you yesterday.” Because I cannot conclude that the jury instructions as a whole — both the principal jury instructions and the supplemental jury instructions — were erroneous, and because I cannot find that the instructions, in whole or in part, were coercive, I cannot justify vacating this conviction and remanding the case for a new trial.
Therefore, I respectfully dissent.
For affirmance — Chief Justice ZAZZALI, Justices LONG, LaVECCHIA, ALBIN, WALLACE and HOENS — 6.
For reversal — Justice RIVERA-SOTO — 1.

 State v. Czachor, 82 N.J. 392, 413 A.2d 593 (1980).

 Model Jury Charges (Criminal), Final Charge at 24 (1994).

Relying on State v. Jamerson, 153 N.J. 318, 343, 708 A.2d 1183 (1998), Ramseur, supra, 106 N.J. at 304-08, 524 A.2d 188, and State v. Harmon, 104 N.J. 189, 213-17, 516 A.2d 1047 (1986), the majority asserts that "when we have reviewed challenges to supplemental charges, we have not considered the language to be simply a part of larger, unified charge but have analyzed it separately from the charge it supplemented." Ante, at 241, n. 10, 919 A.2d at 839-40, n. 10. Yet, the proposition advanced by the majority — that the Court analyzes supplemental charges "separately from the charge it supplemented" — is not supported by the authority cited by the majority. For example, Jamerson, supra, considered a trial court’s reinstruction to a jury in the context of the trial, finding error in light of the conclusion that the defendant was prejudiced by the improper testimony of a medical examiner. Ramseur, supra, began its analysis of the supplemental instruction by considering the context of that instruction. Rather than viewing the supplemental instruction in isolation, we noted at the outset that the trial court’s failure in the supplemental charge was to specifically "remind the jury of the brief references in its main charge to the possibility and consequences of a non-unaninious verdict." Id. at 305, 524 A.2d 188. Finally, Harmon, supra, considered whether an answer to a jury question, which evinced its confusion as to an element of the charged offense, had the “clear capacity to mislead the juty[.]” In that case, we considered the trial court's responsive instruction based on "the circumstances!!,]” which included "the conflicted evidence, the jury’s admitted confusion, the dubious clarification, and the fact that the other verdicts do not resolve the factual dispute[J” Id. at 217, 516 A.2d 1047. Simply said, the supplemental charge was not considered in isolation in any of the cases relied on by the majority.