Does the trial court need to shoving the jury in the direction of nullification?

That shoving the jury in the direction of nullification is something the trial court need not do does not mean that it is permitted to pressure the jury [34 Cal.3d 493] into stifling a spontaneous urge to nullify. In United States v. Spock (1st Cir.1969) 416 F.2d 165, the convictions were reversed because the trial court had asked the jury to answer several "special questions" concerning the various elements of the crimes charged. The court felt that this procedure amounted to undue judicial pressure because it infringed on its power to arrive at a general verdict without having to support it by reasons. "There is no easier way to reach, and perhaps to force, a verdict of guilty, than to approach it step by step. A juror, wishing to acquit, may be formally catechized. By a progression of questions each of which seems to require an answer unfavorable to the defendant, a reluctant juror may be led to vote for a conviction which, in the large, he would have resisted. The result may be accomplished by a majority of the jury, but the course has been initiated by the judge, and directed by him through the frame of the questions." (Id. at p. 182.)