Court Opinion

ID: 9659729
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 21:53:40.847321+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:11.167639
License: Public Domain

TEIGEN, Judge
(concurring specially).
I concur in the result. I do not think, however, that it was proper for the majority to conclude “that it was error for the trial court to communicate with the jury outside the presence of counsel and the defendant” a refusal to inform the jury as to what a witness at the trial meant by the expression quoted in the majority opinion. The jury’s request.does not come within the mandate contained in Section 29-22-05, N.D.C.C., cited by the majority, as the jury’s request did not seek information on a “point of law” nor did it seek to have “any testimony * * * read to them.” Thus the request did not invoke the required procedure set forth in the statute. I think, under the circumstances, it was proper for the trial judge to communicate, through the bailiff, his refusal to grant the jury’s request. Situations similar to what occurred here are not uncommon in jury trials and it is my opinion, based on my experience as a trial judge, that it is unreasonable to place this useless burden on the trial judge and the participants at the trial by classifying the failure to do so as error.
The Kansas Supreme Court, in Hammargren v. Montgomery Ward & Co., 172 Kan. 484, 241 P.2d 1192 (1952), came to the same conclusion. It held that it was not error for the trial court to orally advise the jury through the bailiff that checks which the jury asked for after the jury had started to deliberate had not been received in evidence.
KNUDSON, Judge
(concurring specially)-
I concur in the result, but I do not agree with the majority in their conclusion that the request by the jury and the refusal of the trial court to answer the question constituted a communication under the statute, and therefore I do not find that the trial court committed error.