Farrell v. State

622 N.E.2d 488, 1993 Ind. LEXIS 156, 1993 WL 421869
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 22, 1993
Docket79S02-9310-CR-1147
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 622 N.E.2d 488 (Farrell v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Farrell v. State, 622 N.E.2d 488, 1993 Ind. LEXIS 156, 1993 WL 421869 (Ind. 1993).

Opinions

ON PETITION TO TRANSFER

KRAHULIK, Justice.

John Farrell (Defendant-Appellant below) was sentenced to a term of forty-eight years following his conviction, by jury, of kidnapping. Ind. Code Ann. § 35-42-3-2 (West 1986).1 The conviction and sentence were affirmed in his original appeal. Farrell v. State (1993), Ind.App., 612 N.E.2d 124.

In his petition to transfer, Farrell raises the following issues:

(1) Whether the trial court erred in requiring the jury to continue deliberations;
[490]*490(2) Whether the victim’s identification of Farrell was properly admitted;
(3) Whether testimony of an expert on eyewitness identification procedures was properly excluded;
(4) Whether defendant received ineffective assistance of counsel by counsel’s failure to move for a hung jury; and
(5) Whether the sentence was manifestly unreasonable.

Facts

The facts most favorable to the judgment reveal that shortly after 2:00 a.m. on August 18, 1990, in Lafayette, Indiana, Gina Handley stopped to use a pay telephone. She parked her automobile a few steps away from the telephone booth, with the engine running, the driver-side door open, and the headlights on. Immediately after she re-entered the automobile, a man, whom she identified as Farrell, approached her from behind and ordered, “Scoot over, I’ve got a gun.” Handley observed the man standing by the car pointing a gun at her. She moved into the passenger's seat. Farrell entered the automobile and ordered Handley to place her hands behind her neck and keep her head down. Again, Handley obeyed. Farrell began driving through the city. Despite pleas to be let free, Farrell repeatedly threatened Handley and shoved her head down. After fifteen or twenty minutes, Handley was able to jump out of the automobile.

Handley informed police about the attack. The following day, Handley identified Farrell in a photo array. She also identified him at trial as her attacker.

Jury Deliberations

Farrell argues that the trial court violated his right to a fair trial by requiring the jury to continue their deliberations notwithstanding signs of the jurors’ exhaustion. Because we agree that the jury should have been able to rest before further deliberations, we grant Farrell a new trial.

Trial proceeded on June 11, 12 and 13. The jury began its deliberations at about 8:15 p.m. on the 13th. Some time on the morning of the 14th, the jury foreman presented the court with four questions.2 The foreman reported to the trial court that, although the jury had not yet reached a verdict, he thought one could be reached with additional time. Breakfast was ordered, the instructions were reread, and the jury reviewed exhibits before returning to deliberations. Although defense counsel expressed concern about whether each juror believed that an agreement on all counts could be reached, no objection was made at that time. The court responded:

At this point in time it seems to me it’s fairly discretionary with the Court as long as the Foreperson feels that there’s a chance of working it out, we’ve spent— we’ve been at this for twenty-four straight hours and maybe we ought to let the process work, it’s gonna — if we get a hung jury we’re gonna have — the defendant’s gonna have additional cost and expense and the agony of going through possibly a second trial.

At around noon on the 14th, the jury returned to the courtroom where the following exchange occurred between the court and the jury foreman:

THE COURT: Have you reached a verdict on each of the six counts?
FOREPERSON: No, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Okay, are you at a point where you’ve reached agreement on any of the counts?
FOREPERSON: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Okay, and you still have some left that — you feel that any additional time — with additional time that you could reach a unanimous agreement as to all counts?
FOREPERSON: I think that’s quite possible.
[491]*491THE COURT: Okay, you’ve been working awfully hard, and do you want something to — you want us to have dinner brought in?
FOREPERSON: (No audible answer)
THE COURT: Or do you just want a little bit more time to iron things out— what — what’s—as the Foreperson
what’s your feeling on it?
FOREPERSON: Your Honor, I think if we would need to have lunch brought in.
THE COURT: Okay.
FOREPERSON: Everybody’s tired, naturally.
THE COURT: Yes.
FOREPERSON: We’re hungry, and that probably might help us out.
THE COURT: And you feel that with — if we bring dinner in or lunch in that you can continue to make progress and be able to make progress toward agreement on each of the counts, is that what I hear you telling me?
FOREPERSON: Yes. Your Honor.
THE COURT: Okay, we’ll have some dinner brought in for you. I think at this point I’m going to bring in another bailiff to help us out, I’m gonna send one bailiff home.
UNKNOWN: Not fair.

Lunch was ordered, and the jury returned to deliberations. The following exchange then occurred between the court and counsel:

THE COURT: Okay, I have just sent the jury down to the jury room, I’ve just directed one of the bailiffs to secure food for the jurors. The Foreperson of the jury has advised the Court in open court that he feels that with some additional time that he feels that the jury can reach unanimity on the remaining counts. Do you have an objection for the record, Mr. Nemeth?
MR. NEMETH [DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Yes, Your Honor, two fold objection; one, for the Court, the Foreman was indicating that he thought there could be an agreement and I saw at least two of the jurors shake their heads at that particular time indicating that there probably couldn’t be an agreement. In addition, my second one is that these jurors have worked very hard most — I think they went — began deliberation — and I’m — been up since that time also but I think they began deliberations at 8:15 last night, worked through the night, we know that, we brought them up this morning and asked them if they wanted more time and they at that time indicated that that would be appropriate, the total amount of time I think is now 16 hours, I would request that they be sequestered and given some rest so that they could sit down and give— their thought processes would be back in shape, I think it’s gonna be real hard for them at this point for them to come up with a decision.
THE COURT: What would you suggest, Mr. Nemeth, for the record where you’d like the Court to send these jurors to have them sequestered.
MR.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
622 N.E.2d 488, 1993 Ind. LEXIS 156, 1993 WL 421869, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/farrell-v-state-ind-1993.