Deadlocked-jury instruction (Allen instruction); M Crim JI 3.12; Allen v United States; People v Sullivan; Whether a deviation from the standard instruction was coercive; People v Walker

The court held that the trial court’s deviation from the standard Allen instruction was not unduly coercive. Defendant was convicted of arson of an insured dwelling and second-degree arson and sentenced to 7 to 20 years. On appeal, the court rejected his argument that the trial court provided an unduly coercive Allen instruction. He claimed “the trial court’s deviation from the standard instruction was unduly coercive because it impermissibly threatened the jurors by indicating they would be called to return and sit through a new trial if they failed to reach an agreement.” Viewed in isolation, this “statement could be read as insinuating the jury would have to sit through another trial. However, after this remark, the trial court separately referred to the jury as ‘you,’ stating, ‘I’m going to ask you to please return to the jury room and resume your deliberations . . . .’ This distinction reflects that the trial court was referring to the parties and their attorneys when stating, ‘[T]hey have to do this all over again.’ In examining the ‘factual context in which the instruction was given,'” the trial court “did not impermissibly threaten or imply that the jury would be required to hear the case again if it failed to reach a unanimous agreement.” Further, its “Allen instruction was not otherwise unduly coercive.” It read “M Crim JI 3.12 nearly verbatim, pausing only to clarify that it could not resolve disputed factual issues. There is no basis to conclude that the jury’s knowledge of a potential mistrial would cause a reasonable juror to give up their objections solely to reach an agreement. Indeed, after its initial statements, the trial court explicitly reminded the jurors that they should not give up their honest beliefs in order to reach an agreement.” Nor did its “commentary threaten to require the jury to deliberate for an unreasonable amount of time.” Affirmed.