Isom v. State

481 So. 2d 820
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 11, 1985
Docket55741
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 481 So. 2d 820 (Isom v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Isom v. State, 481 So. 2d 820 (Mich. 1985).

Opinion

481 So.2d 820 (1985)

Henry Mack ISOM
v.
STATE of Mississippi.

No. 55741.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

December 11, 1985.

*821 Lee Calvin Buckley, Holly Springs, for appellant.

Edwin Lloyd Pittman, Atty. Gen., by Billy L. Gore, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Before PATTERSON, C.J., and PRATHER and SULLIVAN, JJ.

PRATHER, Justice, for the Court:

The appeal addresses the trial judge's effort to avert a mistrial by the giving of an additional instruction to a jury deadlocked solely on the issue of defendant's guilt as to a greater or lesser offense. The defendant, Henry Mack Isom, was indicted for the willful, unlawful and felonious murder of Franklin D. Shaw.

After eight hours of deliberation and a special interrogatory issued by the Court, the jury returned a verdict of guilty of manslaughter and Isom was sentenced to serve a term of 18 years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Isom appeals and this Court reverses on two of his assignments of error as follows:

(1) The trial court erred in requiring the jury to deliberate for excessive hours;

(2) The trial court erred in giving a special interrogatory after the jury having been sufficiently instructed retired for deliberation.

I.

On July 30, 1983, several people were gathered at the Briar Patch or Colonial Restaurant in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Although accounts at trial differed as to the actual train of events, it seems that as a result of scuffling and shouting of racial slurs between blacks and whites gathered at the restaurant, Frank Shaw suffered a fatal gun shot wound to his chest. The gun was fired by Henry Mack Isom who admitted firing the shot but claimed he merely wanted to scare Shaw.

On the second day of the trial, the jury retired at 3:21 p.m. At 4:30 p.m. the jury asked for definitions to some words, the court declined to elaborate and referred them to their instructions. At 10:38 p.m. when the jury had reached no decision, the court inquired whether the jury would prefer to continue deliberations or resume the following day. In a vote of nine to three a majority voted to continue. At 11:07 p.m. the jury was still undecided. The verdict at that time stated: "We the jury are unable to come to a final conclusion as to a manslaughter, murder or be released in self-defense. We are hung at a vote of ten murder verdicts and two manslaughter verdicts." Receiving this note the judge stated:

The Court: Ladies and gentlemen, have you reached a verdict? Please answer yes or no.
Juror: No, we are undecided.
The Court: Ladies and gentlemen, I am going to submit you a special interrogatory or special question. The note you have given me is not, in my opinion exactly clear. I will write an instruction on the court's own motion and on discretion in this case, and I will ask that you ... I will read it to you and then ask that you retire and give me an answer to this question.
(Special interrogatory prepared by the Court)
The Court: Ladies and gentlemen, I read you this special interrogatory or question: Do you unanimously agree that the defendant is guilty of either murder or manslaughter according to the instructions given and that the killing of Frankie Shaw was not in necessary self-defense according to the instructions? If your answer is "yes," then you are authorized to return a verdict of guilty of manslaughter. The clerk will hand you this instruction. Please return to the jury room. Let the bailiff know when you have an answer to the interrogatory.

At 11:35 p.m. the jury returned to the jury room. At 11:35 p.m. the jury returned to the courtroom with the following verdict:

We the jury find the defendant guilty of manslaughter.

*822 After a polling of the jury, the jurors were dismissed.

II.

Did the trial court err in giving a special interrogatory when the jury had been amply instructed on the law?

Isom asserts that the judge's instruction constitutes reversible plain error under Supreme Court Rule 6(b) which states:

No error not distinctly assigned shall be argued by counsel, except upon request of the court, but the court may, at its option, notice a plain error not assigned or distinctly specified.

In his motion for a new trial, appellant further argues that the special interrogatory "limited the jury's range of verdicts."

The state, however, contends that defense counsel made no contemporaneous objection to the special interrogatory to preserve the issue on appeal. Haynes v. State, 451 So.2d 227 (Miss. 1984). Additionally the state argues that no reversible error resulted in that the trial court's interrogatory obviously inured to the benefit of the defendant since the jury returned a verdict of manslaughter, not murder.

This Court has never confronted the problem where a lower court issued a special interrogatory similar to the one in the case sub judice.

In Sharplin v. State, 330 So.2d 591 (Miss. 1976) this Court held that the mere request and receipt of the jury's numerical division when the jury is still undecided, without reference to guilty or innocence, does not coerce the jury and is not error. This Court then stated:

We believe that the possibility of coercion, if any, lies in the trial judge's conduct and comments after he receives the division, that is, whether the judge merely affords the jury additional time to deliberate or whether he attempts to force a verdict by suggestive or coercive measures.

Id. at 596. See also Pace v. State, 473 So.2d 167 (Miss. 1985).

Additionally this Court in Sharplin proclaimed that the "Allen charge" in any of its various forms should not be given, Allen v. United States (1896), 164 U.S. 492, 17 S.Ct. 154, 41 L.Ed. 528 (1896), and set forth the following instructions for use by a trial judge when he feels that the jury might reach a verdict:

(1) Please continue your deliberations or
(2) I know that it is possible for honest men and women to have honest different opinions about the facts of a case, but, if it is possible to reconcile your differences of opinion and decide this case, then you should do so.
Accordingly, I remind you that the court originally instructed you that the verdict of the jury must represent the considered judgment of each juror. It is your duty as jurors to consult with one another and to deliberate in view of reaching agreement if you can do so without violence to your individual judgment. Each of you must decide the case for yourself, but only after an impartial consideration of the evidence with your fellow jurors. In the course of your deliberations, do not hesitate to reexamine your own views and change your opinion if you are convinced it is erroneous, but do not surrender your honest convictions as to the weight or effect of the evidence solely because of the opinion of your fellow jurors or for the mere purpose of returning a verdict. Please continue your deliberations.

Id.

A similar situation was addressed in another jurisdiction. In People v. Lewis, 676 P.2d 682 (Colo. 1984) a defendant was convicted of heat of passion manslaughter, though indicted for first degree murder, and the state of Colorado appealed.

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Bluebook (online)
481 So. 2d 820, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/isom-v-state-miss-1985.