Court Opinion

ID: 9796758
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 04:04:17.908599+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:51:30.320898
License: Public Domain

Justice MARTINEZ,
dissenting.
Although I agree with the majority that this court may not consider the jurors' affidavits, which revealed that the jury acquitted the defendant of first- and second-degree murder, I disagree that the trial court had no authority or responsibility to conduct a partial verdict inquiry to determine if the jury acquitted Richardson of the greater offenses. The danger realized here is that, prior to the jury's discharge, there was no procedure allowing the jury to report an acquittal on the greater charge, and yet, after the jury's discharge, we cannot consider juror affidavits or testimony revealing the jury's acquittal. Consequently, defendants such as Richardson may be retried, and thereby put in jeopardy a second time, for offenses on which they were in fact acquitted. Thus, the effect of the majority's opinion is to prevent a future double jeopardy violation by assuring that a court cannot know about (or cannot legally recognize) the double jeopardy violation. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.
Central to the issue presented by this case is a choice of procedure for dealing with a jury's deadlock over a charge that includes lesser degrees of offenses. Specifically at issue is whether, before declaring a mistrial, the trial court should have conducted a partial verdict inquiry by polling the jurors in order to assure that the jury was actually unable to reach a verdict as to each offense. The majority concludes that conducting such a partial verdict inquiry is inappropriately coercive on the jury's deliberations and does not reflect the jury's final verdict. See maj. op. at 764. Thus, the majority holds that the trial court properly refused Richardson's request to poll the jury to determine whether it had reached unanimity on the greater offenses. Id. at 764.
In contrast, I would hold that the far better procedure would require that the trial court afford the jury an opportunity to render a partial verdiet of acquittal on a greater offense when the jury is deadlocked on the lesser-included offenses. Implementing such a procedure recognizes the underlying concern that a defendant can be subject to a double jeopardy violation without his knowledge or without the ability to challenge the violation. -In the first instance, the jury may unanimously decide to aequit the defendant of the greater charge and yet have no procedure by which to report the acquittal. Consequently, the defendant is unaware that his retrial on that offense has placed him in *766jeopardy a second time. In the latter instance, the defendant may have evidence such as juror affidavits stating that the jury acquitted him of the greater charge, and yet the affidavits are either inadmissible under Rule 606(b) or they cannot constitute a verdict. To protect against the realistic danger of these future double jeopardy violations, the better procedure would provide an opportunity for the jury to render a partial verdict and thereby shield the defendant from retrial on offenses for which he was in actuality acquitted. Therefore, where as here, defendant has requested that the jury be polled regarding its unanimity as to a greater offense, I would hold that the trial court should conduct a partial verdict inquiry to determine whether the jury was actually unable to reach a verdict as to each offense submitted to the jury.1
This conclusion is supported by the fact that a substantial number of states have implemented various procedures by which the jury can render an acquittal on a greater offense despite deadlocking on lesser-inelud-ed offenses. At least six states have caselaw explicitly outlining procedures for rendering a partial verdict. See Whiteaker v. State, 808 P.2d 270, 278 (Alaska Ct.App.1991); Stone v. Superior Court, 31 Cal.3d 503, 183 Cal.Rptr. 647, 646 P.2d 809, 820 (1982); State v. Tate, 256 Conn. 262, 773 A.2d 308, 323-24 (2001); State v. Pugliese, 120 N.H. 728, 422 A.2d 1319, 1321 (1980); State v. Castrillo, 90 N.M. 608, 566 P.2d 1146, 1149 (1977), overruled on other grounds by State v. Wardlow, 95 N.M. 585, 624 P.2d 527 (1981); Oliver v. Justices of the N.Y. Supreme Court, 36 N.Y.2d 53, 364 N.Y.S.2d 874, 324 N.E.2d 348, 351 (1974). Additionally, at least another eight states have caselaw that assumes the validity of accepting a partial verdict, which would indicate that these states have some procedure by which a partial verdict can be accepted. See Andrade v. Superior Court, 183 Ariz. 113, 901 P.2d 461, 462 (App.1995) (holding that when the jury acquitted the defendant on the greater offense, but deadlocked on the lesser-included offenses, double jeopardy did not bar retrial of the lessers); People v. Krogul, 115 Ill.App.3d 734, 70 Ill.Dec. 807, 450 N.E.2d 20, 23 (1983) (same); Commonwealth v. Ray, 982 S.W.2d 671, 674 (Ky.Ct.App.1998) (same); People v. Booker, 208 Mich.App. 168, 527 N.W.2d 42, 48 (1994) (approving trial court's acceptance of "partial acquittals" on the greater charges of first- and second-degree murder, while allowing defendant to be retried on lesser-included offense of manslaughter); State v. Halsey, 232 Neb. 658, 441 N.W.2d 877, 880 (1989) (noting that trial court entered not-guilty verdict on greater charge of attempted first-degree murder, but declared mistrial as to lesser charge of attempted second-degree murder); State v. Grabowski, 644 A.2d 1282, 1286 (R.I.1994) (holding that when jury acquitted defendant on greater offense, but deadlocked on lesser-included offenses, double jeopardy did not bar retrial of the lesers); State v. Seagroves, 691 S.W.2d 537, 541 (Tenn.1985) (same); State v. Russell, 101 Wash.2d 349, 678 P.2d 332, 335 (1984) (same). Thus, a substantial number of states have implemented procedures to permit the jury to render a partial verdict on a greater offense.
Several of these states have incorporated this caselaw into their rules, statutes, and jury instructions. See, e.g., N.M.Crim. P. 5-611(D);2 N.Y.Crim. Proc. Law § 310.70 *767(2007). Underlying the majority's rationale is that Colorado should not allow partial verdict inquiries because there is no procedure supporting the practice. See maj. op. at 768 n. 6, 764. However, this cireular reasoning that determines no procedure should be cere-ated because no procedure currently exists ignores the fact that the rules, jury instructions, and verdict forms in these states were written to implement decisions issued by the state courts that authorized and outlined the trial court's obligation to accept partial verdicts. Thus, the lack of a procedure authorizing partial verdicts in Colorado, where this issue has not been decided, should not preclude this court from finding that the trial court can conduct a partial verdict inquiry and should do so in certain instances.3
Moreover, contrary to the majority's rationale for its position, the trial court can conduct a partial verdict inquiry without invading jury deliberations, causing any coercive effect on jury decisions, or accepting a verdict that is not actually final. If an inquiry into the greater offenses does not occur until the jury has announced that it has carried its deliberations as far as possible, there is no effect on deliberations and the jury is reporting its final verdict. See Tate, 773 A.2d at 324 n. 15 ("Reporting a verdict, even a partial verdict, does not intrude impermissibly into the jury deliberations. It focuses on the results, if any, of its deliberations, and not on the nature or content of those deliberations."); see also Pugliese, 422 A.2d at 1321 (noting that the "ends of public justice" would not have been defeated "by simply asking the jury if they had reached a verdict on the [greater offense]"). To assure that there is no effect on deliberations, the following procedure can be implemented. After the jury indicates that it has carried its deliberations as far as possible and there is no reasonable likelihood of progress toward a unanimous verdiet on a charged offense, the trial court calls the jury out to receive any verdicts reached. Then, beginning with the greatest offense, the trial court inquires whether the jury has reached unanimity. If the answer is negative, the court has an immediate basis for declaring a mistrial as to the charged offense and all lesser-included offenses. In contrast, if the jury announces that it unanimously voted for acquittal on the greatest offense, the court can receive that verdict and enter a judgment as to that offense. Finally, the court questions the jury as to each lesser-included offense, beginning with the greatest of the lesser-included offenses, until the court reaches an offense on which the jury was deadlocked.4
*768The majority mistakenly implies that a partial verdiet inquiry cannot be conducted in a "soft transition" jurisdiction such as Colorado, where the jury need not unanimously acquit the defendant of the greater offense before considering the lesser-included offenses. Although there may be some correlation between "hard transition" states and states that allow partial verdicts, the "soft transition" approach does not make a partial verdict inquiry any more problematic or inappropriate. Rather, the "soft transition" approach merely allows for the possible see-nario in which the trial court conducts a partial verdict inquiry and the jury reports that it did not reach unanimity on the greater offense before it moved on to consider the lesser-included offenses. In that instance, the jury has not reached unanimity on the greater offense and there is manifest necessity for the declaration of a mistrial as to the charged count and all lesser-included offenses.
In sum, I would hold that; (1) the trial court is authorized to poll the jury after it has reported deadlock to determine if the jury did in fact acquit the defendant of the greater offense or offenses and (2) where the trial court failed to inquire whether the jurors reached a unanimous partial verdict as to the greater offenses, despite a request by the defendant to do so, there is no manifest necessity sufficient to declare a mistrial as to those greater offenses.
Here, defense counsel made several requests that the trial court inquire of the jury whether they had reached a verdict on any greater offenses. Additionally, there was some ambiguity in the notes received from the jury as to whether the jury was deadlocked on the greater and the lesser-included offenses or whether the jury had reached unanimity on a greater offense and only remained deadlocked on the lesser-included offenses. Thus, the trial court should have inquired into whether the jury reached unanimity on the greater offenses.
Because the trial court failed to poll the jury as to the greater offenses, I would look to other states that have considered the appropriate remedy where a trial court should have conducted a partial verdiet inquiry but failed to do so. These courts have held that the appellate court must assess whether the trial court record reveals the specific charges on which the jury was deadlocked. See Whiteaker, 808 P.2d at 278-179; Stone, 188 Cal.Rptr. 647, 646 P.2d at 822; Tate, 778 A.2d at 825-26; Castrillo, 566 P.2d at 1151-52. If the record shows that the jury was deadlocked on particular charges, the defendant may be retried on those offenses, but not on any greater offense. See Stone, 188 Cal.Rptr. 647, 646 P.2d at 822. However, where the record is not clear as to whether the jury was deadlocked over acquittal, a greater offense, or a lesser-included offense at the time of discharge, the court must presume that it was the least serious lesser-included offense. See Tate, T183 A2d at 825-26; Castrillo, 566 P.2d at 1151-52. Thus, the retrial of the greater offenses would be barred by double jeopardy.
Here, the record does not reveal the specific charges on which the jury was deadlocked. Based on Richardson's specific objection to retrial on first- and second-degree murder only, I would hold that double jeopardy bars retrial on those two offenses. See People v. Ortiz, 196 Colo. 438, 439, 586 P.2d 227, 228 (1978) (holding that if defendant moved for, or consented to, mistrial, retrial of defendant was not barred on double jeopardy grounds).
Accordingly, I would make the rule to show cause absolute and order that Richardson cannot face retrial on the first- and see-ond-degree murder charges. Therefore, I dissent.

. I would note that the trial court may provide the jury with an opportunity to render a partial verdict through other means such as jury instructions and verdict forms. Indeed, such avenues may be the better procedure by which the jury could be informed of its ability to render a partial verdict. However, because we do not have the trial court's instructions here and the trial court did not provide the jury with a verdict form that allowed for a partial verdict, the only consideration at hand is whether the trial court should have conducted a partial verdict inquiry.

. For example, New Mexico implemented the holding of State v. Castrillo, 90 N.M. 608, 566 P.2d 1146 (1977), through its Rule of Criminal Procedure 5-611, which provides:
D. Conviction of Lesser Offenses.... If the jury has been instructed on one or more lesser included offenses, and the jury cannot unanimously agree upon any of the offenses submitted, the court shall poll the jury by inquiring as to each degree of the offense upon which the jury has been instructed beginning with the highest degree and, in descending order, inquiring as to each lesser degree until the court has determined at what level of the offense the jury has disagreed. If upon a poll of the jury it is determined that the jury has unanimously *767voted not guilty as to any degree of an offense, a verdict of not guilty shall be entered for that degree and for each greater degree of the offense.
N.M.Crim. P. 5-611(D).

. Notably, although the record before us does not contain the jury instructions given by the trial judge, Colorado's standard jury instructions may be read as instructing that a partial verdict is appropriate. The jury instructions provide:
After considering all the evidence, if you decide the prosecution has failed to prove one or more element of the crime charged or a lesser included offense, you should find the defendant not guilty of the offense which has not been proved, and you should so state in your verdict.
While you may find the defendant not guilty of [any or all of] the crime(s) charged, or of any or all lesser included offenses; you may not find the defendant guilty of more than one of the following offenses: [Here insert the offense charged and all lesser included offenses by name.]
CJI-Crim. 38:06 (1993). Thus, a jury is instructed to state in its verdict whether it has found the defendant not guilty of the crime charged or a lesser-included offense. In spite of this instruction, the corresponding verdict form, which Richardson's jury received, only allows for two possibilities: (1) not guilty on all charges or (2) guilty of the crime charged or one of the lesser-included offenses. Thus, a jury is left without remedy to render any not-guilty verdict on the greater charges. However, this current inconsistency could be remedied by allowing the trial court to conduct a partial verdict inquiry and thereby permit the jury to render any not-guilty verdict as instructed.

. Indeed, the acceptance of the jury's acquittal of a greater offense at the conclusion of the jury's deliberations does not exert any greater coercion on the jury's deliberations than the court's acceptance of a partial verdict where offenses are charged separately. For example, there is no contention in Richardson's case that the jury's verdict was coerced when the trial court accepted a not-guilty verdict on the separately charged vehicular manslaughter (DUI) offense, but declared a mistrial as to the first-degree murder and vehicular homicide (reckless) charges. Thus, whether the trial court is accepting a verdict on separate charges or on separate offenses included within a charge, the jury's deliberations *768remain unaffected because the trial court is merely receiving the jury's final verdict after its deliberations are complete.