How have courts interpreted the Sixth Amendment right to consult counsel about communications to a deliberating jury?

MultiRegion, United States of America

The following excerpt is from United States v. Martinez, 850 F.3d 1097 (9th Cir. 2017):

In United States v. RosalesRodriguez , we extended this Sixth Amendment right to require trial courts to consult counsel about the court's communications to a deliberating jury, even when those communications are not initiated by the jury. There, the court sent an unsolicited note to the jury in the absence of counsel and the parties. RosalesRodriguez , 289 F.3d at 1109. The note informed the jury that if deliberations were not concluded by Friday at 4:30 p.m., an alternate juror would be substituted for a deliberating juror who had a conflict the following week, and deliberations would have to begin anew. Id. We concluded that the note was a supplementary instruction that the court should have reviewed with counsel, because counsel might have objected to the instruction or sought alternative language. Id. at 1110. We then determined that the failure to give counsel the opportunity to be heard was both a constitutional and statutory violation.3 Id. at 111011. Nevertheless, the violation was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt because the jury reached its verdict by Friday at 11:00 a.m., suggesting that the jury had no difficulty reaching a verdict, and would have returned it well before 4:30 p.m. regardless of the note. Id. at 1111.

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