Thomas v. State

• Decision Date: 30 September 1999
• Docket Number: No. 91,020.,91,020.
• Citation: 748 So.2d 970
• Parties: Robert THOMAS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

748 So.2d 970

Robert THOMAS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 91,020.

Supreme Court of Florida.

September 30, 1999.

Nancy A. Daniels, Public Defender, and David A. Davis, Assistant Public Defender, Second Judicial Circuit, Tallahassee, Florida, for Appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Curtis M. French, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, Florida, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

We have on appeal the judgment and sentence of the trial court imposing the death penalty upon Robert Thomas. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. While we reject most of the claims of error asserted by Thomas, we reverse Thomas's convictions and remand for a new trial based upon the extreme conditions under which the jury deliberated and decided his guilt.

On April 6, 1997, Thomas was convicted of first-degree murder and subsequently sentenced to death. Thomas raises eleven claims of error on appeal.¹ We reverse based on Thomas's claim of error concerning the jury's late-night and early-morning deliberations and deadlock and the court's instructions to the jury during this time. We also address the remainder of the guilt phase claims, as they may affect the retrial of this case. However, we will not address any penalty phase issues because they are rendered moot as a result of our decision, except for one issue involving an improper comment during closing argument in the penalty phase.

JURY DELIBERATIONS

Thomas was charged with and tried for first-degree murder and other charges involving the death of Imara Skinner. The State's case against Thomas was substantially predicated upon the identification of Thomas by Skinner's companion, Monye Elvord. At trial, Thomas claimed an alibi and presented several witnesses in support thereof. The guilt phase of the trial, including the presentation of testimony and evidence by the defense, lasted from Monday, March 31, 1997, to Saturday, April 5, 1997. On Saturday afternoon, both Thomas and the State presented their closing arguments. Thereafter, the jury began its deliberations at approximately 7 p.m. Saturday night and did not recess until after 4:30 a.m. the next morning.² During the all-night deliberations, the jury expressed its deadlock on several occasions.

During deliberations, the jury requested that the testimony of five witnesses be read to them. However, when attorneys for both sides agreed that such a rereading would take too long, the judge denied the jury's request but informed them that if they absolutely needed it, he would provide it to them. Later on the jury requested to rehear at least a portion of the testimony of a witness who had identified Thomas and the testimony of two other witnesses who placed Thomas near the scene of the crime. The court allowed testimony of one witness to be reread.

After hearing this testimony again, the jury foreman informed the judge that the rehearing of testimony had had no effect on one member of the jury who was still unconvinced. The foreman told the judge that the jury was split eleven-to-one, but he did not reveal whether it was in favor of guilt or innocence. By then, it was past midnight, and the judge informed the State and the defense that they had two options: either both parties would agree to waive sequestration of the jury and the court would recess until the next day, or the court would give a "dynamite" or Allen³ charge contained in the Florida Standard Jury Instructions for Criminal Cases and insist that the jury continue deliberating for at least another hour. The State urged the court not to give the Allen charge. Thomas, however, requested that the Allen charge in the Standard Jury Instructions be given.

At this point, the court did not give the Allen charge but, instead, reconvened the jury and inquired if they wished to continue. The foreman again informed the court that the reread testimony had not resolved the case for the juror in disagreement with the majority. Notwithstanding his apparent decision not to give the jury the Allen charge from the Standard Jury Instructions, the judge instructed the jury:

Since you did hear the rereading of that testimony, I'm going to ask that you go back to the jury room and try one more time. And if that doesn't work, just send word out to me. But I would ask that you try to reach a verdict in this case. I can't make you reach a verdict, but I would ask that you, just go back and try one more time to come to a unanimous verdict in this case. So if you would just return to the jury room one more time, and we'll try and we'll decide where to go from there.

(Emphasis supplied.) When the jury retired, the judge told the parties that he would not declare a mistrial that night and that the only issue that remained for the court was whether the jury would be sequestered. Both parties urged the judge to sequester the jury.

Subsequently, at approximately 1:30 a.m. the judge ordered the jury back into the courtroom and told the jurors: "I realize it's been a long day and in this type of case I must do everything I can to give you an opportunity to reach a verdict in this case." The judge then informed them that he would call a recess, but in order to do so he would have to sequester them, and declared:

I know I told you this would be over Thursday, or maybe Friday, and here it is Sunday already. But I must do everything that I can to have the matter resolved so that we would not have to start from the beginning on the case, or in essence ... I just wanted to let you know that's what we're going to have to do.

(Emphasis supplied.) At this point, however, the court did not take a recess but, rather, again asked that the jurors continue their deliberations while the bailiff made arrangements for a hotel and a bus to transport them. Thereafter, at approximately 3:30 a.m., the jury was allowed a short break before it was ordered to return to the courtroom, where the foreman stated that the jurors now wanted to try to stay and reach a verdict because he felt they might be on the verge of a break through. However, the foreman declared: "If we can't reach a verdict tonight, quite honestly I don't think we'll come any closer tomorrow than we are tonight. That's just an honest opinion, sir." When this occurred, counsel for Thomas withdrew his motion to have the jury sequestered and requested that the jury be allowed to go home. However, counsel reasserted his position that under the circumstances then prevailing, any verdict rendered would be the product of oppression.

At about 4:30 a.m., while continuing to deliberate, the jury sent out another note to the court. Upon receipt of the note, counsel for Thomas moved for a mistrial because the note confirmed that the jury was still deadlocked. The State objected to a mistrial on the ground that the Allen charge from the Standard Jury Instructions had not yet been read to the jury, and the State recommended that the court read it to the jury. The court denied the State's request and also denied defendant's motion for mistrial. The court then brought the jurors out and informed them they should report back later that day at 1 p.m.⁴

However, at this point, the foreman interrupted and told the court: "The discussions have broken down to open hostility. It's an unpleasant environment. Quite frankly, I don't think we'll ever reach a decision. I'm embarrassed to say that, but it is a fact." Thomas again moved for a mistrial, noticing that several jurors were crying and some had begun to leave the jury box. Finally, the judge adjourned the proceedings and instructed the jury to come back to try again, saying, "If we don't get it done, that will be the effort that we'll have to make to try to resolve this."

The jury returned later that Sunday as instructed. Then, after deliberating for only twenty minutes, the jury submitted a note requesting the court review the jury instruction on reasonable doubt and the jury's responsibility to rely on the evidence in making a decision. The judge indicated he would deny the jury's request and informed the parties that he would ask the jurors if they felt they could reach a verdict, and, if not, he would declare a mistrial and set the case for retrial. The State again requested an Allen charge from the Standard Jury Instructions, but it was not given, with the judge commenting that "[t]he Allen charge simply tells them to do what they have done for the last eight to ten hours."⁵

The judge then called the jury back into the courtroom and informed them he could not repeat the instructions they had requested. At this point, the foreperson informed the judge that the jury had gotten off to a good start and requested that they be allowed to continue deliberating. In response, the judge stated: "You could take as much time as you want to, but if you need to contact us, just let us know. But if you could work on that for a while, and we'll see where we are." A short while later, the jury reached a verdict and found Thomas guilty on all counts.⁶

LAW AND ANALYSIS

It has long been the law that a trial court should not couch an instruction to a jury or otherwise act in any way that would appear to coerce any juror to reach a hasty decision or to abandon a conscientious belief in order to achieve a unanimous position. See Jones v. State, 92 So.2d 261 (Fla.1956)

. In reviewing claims asserting violations of this important principle, the applicable standard of review is whether, under the totality of the circumstances, the trial judge's actions were coercive. United States v. Brokemond, 959 F.2d 206, 208 (11th Cir.1992).

In this case, we are concerned with several factors that may have combined to create an atmosphere of coercion: (1) the trial judge's repeated failure and refusal to give the balanced Allen charge from the Standard Jury Instructions; (2) the judge's repeated informal instructions urging the jury to render a decision; (3) the prevailing conditions...