U.S. v. Williams
| Decision Date | 29 December 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 80-1408,80-1408 |
| Citation | 635 F.2d 744 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Wilbert Benjamin WILLIAMS, Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
R. Kristin Weaver, Clayton, Mo., for appellant.
Edward L. Dowd, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty., St. Louis, Mo., for appellee.
Before LAY, Chief Judge, HENLEY, Circuit Judge, and HANSON, * Senior District Judge.
Williams appeals his conviction of distributing cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). Williams does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his guilt. The sole issue on appeal concerns the trial court's allowing the jury to separate during its deliberation without admonishing it not to discuss the case with other jurors or anyone outside the jury room, or read or listen to anything about the trial. We reverse the conviction and remand for a new trial.
In the present case all of the evidence and instructions were given to the jury in one day. The case was submitted to the jury at 5:05 p. m. Approximately one hour later the jury informed the court it was hopelessly deadlocked. Both the government and the attorney for the defendant requested that the jury continue their deliberations. At approximately 7:30 p. m., the jury sent word to the court that it wanted to go home. The court instructed the bailiff to send the jury home and have it return at 9:30 a. m. No court reporter was present. The defendant argues that the court failed to admonish the jury not to discuss the case outside the jury room. Defense counsel made no objection to the separation or the lack of an admonition. In the morning after deliberating for 25 minutes, the jury returned its verdict of guilty. The defendant received a 15 year sentence.
Our decisions accord the trial court considerable discretion to separate a jury before it has reached a verdict. United States v. Phillips, 540 F.2d 319, 332 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1000, 97 S.Ct. 530, 50 L.Ed.2d 611 (1976); Cardarella v. United States, 375 F.2d 222, 227-28 (8th Cir. 1967). The difficulty in this case is that the record reflects no admonition to the jury at the time of separation as to their duties and responsibilities when not in court. There is no record of a cautionary instruction being given to the jury before hearing the evidence, before recess or lunchtime, or, more significantly, before separating for the evening. The United States Attorney concedes that the transcript includes all instructions and that no admonition was ever given to the jury during voir dire or at any other time.
In Hines v. United States, 365 F.2d 649 (10th Cir. 1966), the court stated:
Procedures have developed over the years to protect the jury in its deliberations from any interference. While the jury is together it is under the protection of officials of the court and is provided facilities of varying degrees of seclusion. The possibility of interference, deliberate or inadvertent, is, of course, increased when the jury separates. Reason dictates however that the jury be allowed to separate under the proper circumstances, and the best that then can be done is to admonish the members. The trial court must be guided in its action by a comparison of the alternatives in the light of the circumstances surrounding the trial and parties. Both the defendant and the public have an interest that risks be not unnecessarily created. These interests must both be considered by the trial court.
In United States v. D'Antonio, 342 F.2d 667 (7th Cir. 1965), the bailiff, rather than the judge, allegedly admonished the jury. The court stated:
Thus the record before us shows that after the jury had been instructed as to the law and retired to consider its verdict, the court announced that, if it had not reached a verdict by 9 P.M., he would permit the jurors to separate and return the following morning to continue their deliberations. Over defendant's objections this course of events actually occurred. In addition, after the verdict was rendered, the court asserted that he had told the marshal to read to the jury, during its deliberations and out of the presence of the court, a statement dictated by the court, which the court stated informed the jury: "You are instructed to discuss this case with no one, until you return to the jury room tomorrow at 9:30; and you are not to permit anyone to discuss it with you." The record is otherwise silent as to whether the statement was actually read as dictated. It is also silent as to whether any colloquy occurred between the jurors and the marshall at the reading of the statement, or as to whether any other persons were present on that occasion or then said anything in the jury's presence.
Id. at 668. 1
It is essential to a fair trial, civil or criminal, that a jury be cautioned as to permissible conduct and conversations outside the jury room. Such an admonition is particularly needed before a jury separates at night when they will converse with friends and relatives or perhaps encounter newspaper or television...
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