Court Opinion

ID: 9851695
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:17:58.362721+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:22:12.720298
License: Public Domain

BURNETT, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully disagree with my colleagues’ conclusion that the jury was not unduly pressured to produce a verdict. In my view, the trial judge should have followed the procedure recommended by the American Bar Association in its STANDARDS RELATING TO TRIAL BY JURY § 5.4 (1968).
I acknowledge, of course, that the instruction contained in section 5.4 is similar to one of many instructions given the jury in this case before they initially retired to consider their verdict. However, no such instruction was given at the critical time— when the jury reported, late at night, that they could not reach a verdict. Rather, the judge urged the jurors to keep trying, and he explicitly adverted to the inconvenience one juror might suffer if a verdict were not returned that evening. These comments were unaccompanied by any cautionary language that the jurors were entitled to adhere to their honest beliefs or that they should not change their minds merely to bring about a unanimous verdict.
The vast deference our criminal justice system accords to jury verdicts imposes upon us the duty scrupulously to maintain the integrity of the jury deliberation process. I would set aside the judgment on the verdict and remand the case for a new trial.