State v. Santiago

2018 MT 13, 415 P.3d 972, 390 Mont. 154
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 30, 2018
DocketDA 15-0652
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 2018 MT 13 (State v. Santiago) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Santiago, 2018 MT 13, 415 P.3d 972, 390 Mont. 154 (Mo. 2018).

Opinion

Justice Laurie McKinnon delivered the Opinion of the Court.

*973***155¶1 A jury found Kogan J. Santiago (Santiago) guilty of sexual intercourse without consent. The Thirteenth Judicial District Court, Yellowstone County, sentenced Santiago to thirty years incarceration, with fifteen years suspended. Santiago appeals his conviction. We affirm and address the following issue:

Did the District Court abuse its discretion in giving the deadlocked jury an Allen -instruction?

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶2 The State charged Santiago with sexual intercourse without consent following an incident that occurred in April 2013. Santiago pleaded not guilty and the case proceeded to a jury trial. On the last day of trial, the jury began deliberations at 11:30 a.m. and shortly thereafter had lunch. At 4:00 p.m., the jury sent the Judge a note indicating it was deadlocked and could not form a unanimous decision. Specifically, the jury indicated its vote was eleven-to-one and that the one juror was unwilling to change his or her position.

¶3 In response, the State suggested the court provide an Allen -instruction, also frequently referred to as a dynamite-instruction. An Allen -instruction may be given to a deadlocked jury and is meant to encourage further jury deliberation. This Court specifically approved the State's requested Allen -instruction in State v. Norquay :

The judicial process assigns tasks to the people involved in the case. It is the task of the witnesses to testify truthfully to the facts as they recall them. It is the task of the lawyers to prepare the case for final submission to the trier of the facts, the jury. It is the task of the Judge to preside, to instruct you as to the law, and to rule on whether certain evidence will be allowed at trial. It is the task of the jury to decide the case. You are not partisan nor are you advocates in this matter; you are neutral judges of the facts. It is you and you alone that can decide this cause. There is no reason to believe that any other 12 people would possess any more ability, intelligence, and courage to do the task assigned to a jury under the American system of justice.
The purpose of this instruction is to encourage you to collaborate with your fellow jurors in order to reach a just and fair verdict in this case. This instruction is not meant to coerce or to force a verdict. You should take as much time as needed in your deliberations.
You should not surrender your honest convictions in this matter ***156for the mere purpose of returning a verdict or solely because of the opinion of other jurors. This does not mean, however, that you should avoid your task of rendering a verdict in this case.
This instruction is not more important than any other instruction I have previously given you. You should consider this instruction together with, and as part of, all the other instructions. Please return to your jury room and, again, diligently and earnestly resume your deliberations.

2011 MT 34, ¶ 43, 359 Mont. 257, 248 P.3d 817 (strikethroughs and emphases omitted).

¶4 Santiago objected to the Allen -instruction based on the fact that the jury's vote was eleven-to-one. He argued the instruction would put "an extreme undue burden" on the one juror in disagreement-that an Allen -instruction was only appropriate when multiple jurors disagreed, not a single juror. He contended it was coercive to "put[ ] eleven people in there to try to convince the one person," and that giving the instruction would put the one juror in an "awful position." Santiago also pointed to precedent from Arizona and Idaho finding Allen -instructions inherently coercive, and claimed *974that was particularly true in this case, where only one juror disagreed with eleven others.

¶5 The Judge acknowledged Santiago's objection as having merit under the circumstances of the case, but noted that this Court specifically approved the State's requested Allen -instruction in Norquay . Accordingly, the Judge gave the jury an instruction nearly identical to Norquay 's revised Allen -instruction. The Judge added, "There's no magic time associated with this, but we do request that you give it another effort." After further deliberation, the jury still could not come to a unanimous decision and the court declared a mistrial.

¶6 Santiago's second jury trial occurred a few months later. Six hours into deliberation, the jury sent a note to the Judge asking when it could determine it was deadlocked because the jurors were unable to agree on a verdict. The jury did not indicate its current vote. The State again requested Norquay 's revised Allen -instruction. Santiago again objected, asking the Judge to accept the jury as deadlocked because the six-hour deliberation indicated that the jury had already diligently considered the case. The court noted Santiago's objection but proceeded to give the jury an instruction nearly identical to Norquay 's revised Allen -instruction. The jury deliberated further and ultimately found Santiago guilty. Santiago appeals from the guilty verdict of his second jury trial.

***157STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶7 We review jury instructions in a criminal case to determine whether the instructions, as a whole, fully and fairly instruct the jury on the applicable law. State v. Smith , 2005 MT 325, ¶ 20, 329 Mont. 526, 127 P.3d 353. A district court has broad discretion when instructing a jury and we only reverse if the instructions prejudicially affect the defendant's substantial rights. State v. Myran , 2012 MT 252, ¶ 16, 366 Mont. 532, 289 P.3d 118.

DISCUSSION

¶8 Did the District Court abuse its discretion in giving the deadlocked jury an Allen-instruction?

¶9 Defendants are constitutionally entitled to an uncoerced jury verdict. Norquay , ¶ 32.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2018 MT 13, 415 P.3d 972, 390 Mont. 154, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-santiago-mont-2018.