Cape Cod Murder

Judge Nickerson's comments to jurors after receiving word the jury was deadlocked

"Jurors, I have received the following communication from you -- 'After weighing all the evidence over the past five days, we the jury have come to the conclusion that we are deadlocked in coming to a unanimous decision for not guilty or guilty on any of the charges. What is the court's recommendation for further deliberations?'

"Jurors, I have found that you have indeed undergone due and thorough deliberations. You are not the first jury certainly in the history of Massachusetts jurisprudence to report this type of situation to a court.

"And over the years, through experience with many cases, courts have developed a response to your concerns, and it goes like this -- the principal mode provided by our Constitution and laws for deciding questions of fact in criminal cases is by the verdict of a jury. In a large proportion of cases -- perhaps, strictly speaking, in all cases -- absolute certainty cannot be attained, nor is it expected. A juror's verdict must be his or her own, the result of his or her own convictions  and not mere acquiescence in the conclusion of your fellow jurors.

"Yet in order to bring 12 minds to a unanimous result, you must examine the question submitted to you with candor and with a proper regard and deference to the opinions of each other.

"You should consider that it is desirable that the case be decided; and that you are selected in the same manner and from the same source from which any future jury must be.

"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 clearer evidence will be produced on the one side or the other. And with this view, it is your duty to decide the case if you can conscientiously do so.

"In order to make a decision more practicable, the law imposes the burden of proof on one party or the other in all cases. In the present case, the burden of proof is on the Commonwealth to establish every part of the case beyond a reasonable doubt. If you are left in doubt of any part of the case, the defendant is entitled to the benefit of the doubt and must be acquitted.

"However, in conferring together, you ought to pay proper respect to each other's opinions and listen with a disposition to be convinced to the other's arguments.

"Thus, where there is disagreement, jurors for acquittal should consider whether a doubt in their minds is a reasonable one if it makes no impression on the minds of others who are equally honest, equally intelligent and who have heard the same evidence, with the same attention, with an equal desire to arrive at the truth, and under the sanction of the same oath as themselves.

"On the other hand, jurors for conviction ought seriously to ask themselves whether they may not reasonably doubt the correctness of a judgment that is not concurred in by others with whom they are associated, and distrust the weight or sufficiency of evidence that fails to carry conviction to the minds of their fellows.

"These are the words that time and experience in other similar situations have been recommended to jurors over the years. Those are the words I leave you with and return you to your deliberations. Thank you."