Domingo v. State
Domingo v. State
Opinion of the Court
The first ground of the amended motion complains that the court erred in refusing to grant the defendant’s motion for a continuance. It is alleged in this ground that defendant’s counsel had been appointed about two and one-half
Ground 4 complains that the court erred in giving the following charge to the jury: “One man, two• men, three men, even half or more than half the jury can not have their whole way about any proposition.” (Emphasis supplied.) It is contended that the quoted charge was erroneous and unsound as an abstract principle of law. After the jury had been out for some time they returned to the courtroom, the foreman informed the court that "... after much deliberation and discussion of the case, the jury is definitely deadlocked, and there is apparently no way out of it that we can see except to call it a mistrial.” To this the court replied: “Sorry, gentlemen, I couldn’t do that at this stage of the game. The law contemplates that a jury will reach a verdict in cases that are tried and requires that the judge hold that jury together for a reasonable time and give them every opportunity to agree. One man, two men, three men, even half or more than half the jury can’t have their whole way about any proposition. They are supposed to confer together, reason together, and discuss the matter, and as I explained to you in the charge that if there are conflicts reconcile those conflicts, if you can, and make all speak the truth, but if you can’t, believe that witness or those witnesses you believe to have spoken truly in the cause. Now then, it is the duty of a jury, to take all the time that is necessary to discuss the case and to reason it out, and to argue it out among yourselves and to make a verdict, and I am not in the habit of declaring mistrials readily. I want to be kind and humane and regardful of the feelings and the convenience of the jury but some jury will have to hear this case and make a verdict in it, if it is possible to reach one,
The majority of the court is of the opinion that the portion of the charge complained of was error and demands the grant of a new trial. The view of the majority on this question is as follows: The trial judge should not in any case unduly urge the jury to find a verdict, nor employ such expressions as injuriously affect the defense of the accused in a criminal case, especially if the case is a capital one, where the rule of reasonable doubt and the right of the jury to recommend mercy are involved. Golatt v. State, 130 Ga. 18 (3) (60 S. E. 107). They should be left free to act, free from any seeming or real coercion on the part of the court. White v. Fulton, 68 Ga. 511 (3). Before the jury were authorized to convict the defendant in this case, each juror, and not a mere majority of them, had to believe and be convinced in his own mind that the defendant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and the verdict that a jury renders, whether it be guilty or not guilty, must represent the unanimous conviction of all the members of the jury. The effect of the court in its recharge telling the jury that “one man, two men, three men, or even half or more than half, can not have their whole way about any proposition” unduly intimated that one or more members of the jury should surrender his or their conviction rather than to cause a mistrial, when as a matter of fact, under the law each juror has the right to form his own conviction and not be required to surrender it because of being in the minority and to agree with the majority rather than cause a mistrial. The injurious effect of this quoted charge was to unduly urge the jury to find a verdict, and operated to the injury of the defendant.
The case of Hyde v. State, 196 Ga. 475 (9) (26 S. E. 2d 744), relied on by the State, where the court charged the jury that “a verdict is the combined judgment of twelve; it is not a verdict
Special ground 2 complains that the court erred in admitting in evidence certain photographs tending to show the wounds of the deceased. Special ground 3 assigns error on the court’s refusal to declare a mistrial on the motion of the defendant’s counsel, for alleged improper remarks made by the solicitor-general in his argument to the jury. Though neither of these grounds was argued, orally or by brief, we have considered them, and conclude that they are without merit. See Johnson v. State, 158 Ga. 192 (2) (123 S. E. 120); Hill v. State, 201 Ga. 300 (6) (39 S. E. 2d 675); Lucas v. State, 146 Ga. 315 (7) (91 S. E. 72); McLendon v. State, 205 Ga. 55 (5) (52 S. E. 2d 294).
The evidence introduced amply supported the verdict of guilty.
In view of the ruling in the second headnote, it was error to overrule the motion for a new trial.
Judgment reversed.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting. I dissent from the ruling in headnote 2 and the corresponding division of the opinion, and from the judgment of reversal. In Gambo v. Dugas & Son, 145 Ga. 614 (89 S. E. 679), after the jury had the case under consideration, the court in its recharge to the jury stated: “It is your duty to agree on a verdict in this case. The case has been fully and completely tried. You are just as competent as any jury would be of disposing of it. I say to you, gentlemen, it is no credit to a juror to stand out, in a pure spirit of stubbornness, because he has taken a position. It is the duty of every juror to consult with every other juror and reach a mutual understanding in the case.” It was held that this charge pressed the jury to the utmost line permissible, and to the very verge of error, and that though it was better for the trial judge to be more conservative in such matters, under the facts of the case and under former rulings of this court, the recharge did not necessitate a reversal. In Golatt v. State, 130 Ga. 18 (60 S. E. 107), which was a capital case, an instruction to the jury that no juror should “stick out” in a spirit of stubbornness, that it was no credit to a juror to do that, was held not to be ground for a new trial. In Hyde v. State, 196 Ga. 475, where the defendant had been convicted without a recommendation to mercy, where the jury after deliberating on the case reported that they stood numerically 10 to 2, the court charged the jury that “a verdict is the combined judgment of twelve; it is not a verdict of ten, or two men or four men.” In the instant case the evidence overwhelmingly supports the verdict of guilty, and in view of previous rulings of the court, I am of the opinion that this recharge did not constitute reversible error.
I am authorized to state that Justice Candler concurs in this dissent.
Reference
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- Domingo v. the State
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