After 23 hours of deliberations, jurors informed the judge Wednesday that they had not been able to reach a unanimous verdict.
‘Members of the jury, I’ve got your question, and the question, or probably more of a statement than a question, saying, “After much deliberation, we are still unable to come to a unanimous decision,”‘ Judge Sullivan told the panel in court.
Sullivan then delivered the Tuey-Rodriguez instruction, commonly referred to as the “dynamite charge,” a directive that reminds jurors they are best positioned to decide the case and that another jury would not necessarily be better suited to weigh the evidence.
In Massachusetts criminal trials, the instruction is typically the final step before a judge may declare a mistrial because of a deadlocked jury.
‘There is no reason to suppose that the case will ever be submitted to 12 persons more intelligent, more impartial or more competent to decide it. Or that more or clear evidence will be produced,’ Sullivan said.
‘With this in mind, it’s your duty to decide the case if you can do it conscientiously. In order to make a decision more attainable, the law imposes the burden of proof on one party or the other in all cases. In the present case, a criminal case, the burden of proof is on the Commonwealth to establish every element of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt.
‘If you are left in doubt of any element of the crime, the defendant is entitled to the benefit of the doubt and must be acquitted.’
