The following excerpt is from People v. Sheldon, 156 N.Y. 268, 50 N.E. 840 (N.Y. 1898):
We suspend quoting from the remarks of the court long enough to again call attention to State v. Bybee, supra, in which the court reversed a judgment of conviction because the trial court, in urging the jury to agree, said that failure to do so would be an imputation on court and jury. In the opinion of the court, written by Judge (now Mr. Justice) Brewer, it was said: No juror should be induced to agree to a verdict by a fear that a failure to so agree would be regarded by the public as reflecting upon either his intelligence or his integrity. Personal consideration should never be permitted to influence his conclusions, and the thought of them should never be presented to him as a motive for action. The position taken by that court meets with our approval, and it is alike applicable to the comment of the trial court in this case that a failure to agree is almost to confess incompetency in this matter.
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