(DOWNLOAD) "Crouse v. Municipality of Anchorage" by In the Court of Appeals of the State of Alaska * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Crouse v. Municipality of Anchorage
- Author : In the Court of Appeals of the State of Alaska
- Release Date : January 07, 2003
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 65 KB
Description
No. 1905 OPINION A jury intended to convict Adonna L. Crouse of driving under the influence, but it filled out the wrong verdict form and mistakenly convicted her of the lesser-included offense of reckless driving. The district court judge immediately learned of this error, and allowed the jury to revise its verdict. Crouse argues that the court should have entered a judgment convicting her of reckless driving without inquiring into the jurors' intent. She also argues that the court staff's ex parte contact with the jury regarding this verdict form deprived her of her constitutional right to be present at every stage of the trial. Having reviewed the record, we reject these claims. The trial judge learned as soon as he announced the verdict that it did not accurately convey the jury's unanimous decision; under these circumstances, he was authorized to inquire into the jurors' intent and to send the jury back into deliberations with the proper verdict forms. Moreover, while we agree that the court staff erred in providing the jury with a verdict form without authorization from the court and notice to the defendant, we conclude that this error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. We therefore affirm the decisions of the district court.
 "Crouse v. Municipality of Anchorage" by In the Court of Appeals of the State of Alaska * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free){kind=link}