Court Opinion

ID: 9465110
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 00:36:11.030444+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:58.892847
License: Public Domain

HUG, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
The majority opinion concludes that it is the law of this circuit that the Allen charge is proper absent unusual circumstances of coercion. With this I agree. The final observation of the opinion is that there is no reason to change this view. With this I disagree. The Allen charge itself, regardless of timing or circumstances, puts unjustified pressure on the minority of jurors to surrender their honest convictions. It indicates that a second trial will be necessary, which is not the fact. It emphasizes the costs of another trial, which clearly is an inappropriate consideration for the jury. This type of charge has been disapproved by three circuits 1 and 23 states2 and has been severely criticized by numerous commentaries.3
*419Nevertheless, although I am of the belief that there are compelling reasons for changing this circuit’s rule, I concur in this case only because of the well established principle that a panel of this court may not reexamine and reverse the existing case law. That is a task more properly left to this court sitting en banc. United States v. McLennan, 563 F.2d 943, 948 (9th Cir. 1977).

. See United States v. Fioravanti, 412 F.2d 407 (3rd Cir. 1969), cert. denied sub nom. Panaccione v. United States, 396 U.S. 837, 90 S.Ct. 97, 24 L.Ed.2d 88 (1969); United States v. Brown, 411 F.2d 930 (7th Cir. 1969); United States v. Thomas, 146 U.S.App.D.C. 101, 449 F.2d 1177 (1971).

. See People v. Gainer, 19 Cal.3d 835, 139 Cal. Rptr. 861, 566 P.2d 997 (1977) and cases from 22 other states cited, 139 Cal.Rptr. at 866-7, footnote 8, 566 P.2d at 1002-3, footnote 8.

. Note, An Argument for the Abandonment of the Allen Charge in California (1975) 15 Santa Clara Law 939; Note, The Allen Charge: Recurring Problems and Recent Developments (1972) 47 N.Y.U.L.Rev. 296; Note, Due Process, Judicial Economy and the Hung Jury: A Reexamination of the Allen Charge (1967) 53 Va.L.Rev. 123; Note, Deadlocked Juries and Dynamite: A Critical Look at the “Allen” Charge (1964) 31 U.Chi.L.Rev. 386.