People v. Thornton

155 Cal. App. 3d 845, 202 Cal. Rptr. 448, 1984 Cal. App. LEXIS 2036
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 15, 1984
DocketB001161
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 155 Cal. App. 3d 845 (People v. Thornton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Thornton, 155 Cal. App. 3d 845, 202 Cal. Rptr. 448, 1984 Cal. App. LEXIS 2036 (Cal. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

*848 Opinion

RUDOF, J. *

Statement of the Case

In an information filed by the District Attorney of Los Angeles County, Samuel Paul Thornton (herein appellant) was charged with possession for purposes of sale of a controlled substance, to wit, phencyclidine, in violation of Health and Safety Code section 11378.5. He was found not guilty of the principal offense and appeals from the judgment of conviction of the lesser included offense of possession of a controlled substance in violation of Health and Safety Code section 11377, subdivision (a).

Statement of Facts

The facts which form the basis of this appeal are alarmingly simple. They concern only the events immediately preceding and subsequent to the jury’s return from deliberations, and involve a question of the proper reconvening of a jury.

The jury had been given three verdict forms: Guilty of possession for sale, not guilty of possession for sale, and guilty of the lesser included offense of simple possession. Upon returning from deliberations, they brought all three forms back into open court. Two of the forms were dated and signed, i.e., not guilty of the charged offense, and guilty of the lesser included offense.

The following colloquy then took place:

“The Court:[ 1 ] People of the State of California versus Thornton.
“Let the record show defendant is present with counsel. Each of the jurors is in their respective positions in the box.
“Who is the foreman or forewoman?
“Juror Lance: I am, Your Honor.
“The Court: That is Miss Lance?
*849 “Juror Lance: Yes.
“The Court: Has the jury reached a verdict?
“Juror Lance: Yes, it has, Your Honor.
“The Court: Would you hand all the jury—all the forms to the bailiff, including those signed and not signed.
“Clerk will read the verdict.
“The Clerk: Title of court and cause: ‘We, the jury in the above-entitled action, find the defendant, Samuel Paul Thornton, not guilty of possession of a controlled substance for sale, to wit, phencyclidine, as charged in Count 1 of the information.
“ ‘This 20th day of June, 1983.
“‘Peggy Lance, Foreman.’
“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is this your verdict, so say you one, so say you all?
“(The jurors answered collectively in the affirmative.)
“The Court: Any request to poll the jury?
“Mr. Yamamoto: No, Your Honor.
“Mr. Dawson: No.
“The Court: No request to poll the jury, the court is going to enter the verdict as read.
“Any matter to come before the court before the jury is discharged?
“Mr. Dawson: Not by the People.
“Mr. Yamamoto: No, Your Honor.
“The Court: All right.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we will excuse you. Thank you very, very much for your service. I certainly appreciate your valuable contribution to our society.” (Italics added.)

*850 The court then proceeded to excuse the jury and they left.

Thus, through what appears to be an inadvertence on the part of the judge or clerk, the not guilty verdict as to the charged offense was the only verdict form which was read to the jury in open court, acknowledged by them to be their verdict and recorded before the jury was discharged. There was no reading, acknowledgment or recordation of the verdict form on the lesser offense.

That afternoon, the court clerk noticed that the not guilty verdict form was not the only one which the jury foreperson had dated and signed. He notified the presiding trial judge, who in turn met with all counsel. The judge, over defense counsel’s objection, ordered the jury to reassemble the next morning.

Upon reassemblance of the jury, the court purported to take the verdict on the lesser included offense as follows;

“The Court: People of the State of California versus Samuel Paul Thornton.
“Let the record reflect that defendant and counsel are present; that all 12 jurors and two alternates are present.
“Just in way of explanation, ladies and gentlemen, I was called away on business yesterday, and Judge . . . agreed to take the verdict, your verdict. This is a common practice, not all that common, but one judge frequently substitutes for another judge in taking a verdict.
Judge . . . apparently through inadvertence did not read all the verdict forms, and so the only verdict recorded was one of the verdict forms signed by you.
“The defendant has a right to have the jury polled as to whether or not that was their verdict. Because Judge . . . only read one verdict, he found it unnecessary to poll the jury.
“So I asked you to come back so we could poll you as to whether or not these are your verdicts.
“I’m going to order the clerk to record the verdicts, and I’m going to ask the clerk to read the verdicts as recorded.
“The Clerk: Title of court and cause: ‘We, the jury in the above-entitled action, find the defendant, Samuel Paul Thornton, guilty of possession of a *851 controlled substance, to wit, phencyclidine, in violation of section 11377, subdivision a, Health and Safety Code, a felony, a lesser but necessarily included offense than that charged in count 1 of the information.
“ ‘This 20th day of June, 1983.
“ ‘Peggy Lance, Foreman. ’
“Title of court and cause: ‘We, the jury in the above-entitled action, find the defendant, Samuel Paul Thornton, not guilty of possession of a controlled substance for sale, to wit, phencyclidine, as charged in count 1 of the information, section 11378.5, Health and Safety Code.
“ ‘This 20th day of June, 1983.
“‘Peggy Lance, Foreman.’

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Bluebook (online)
155 Cal. App. 3d 845, 202 Cal. Rptr. 448, 1984 Cal. App. LEXIS 2036, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-thornton-calctapp-1984.