People v. Johnson, 81 N.Y.2d 980 (1993)
CPL 310.30 prohibits providing copies of statutory text to a deliberating jury without the consent of all parties.
Summary
The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the Appellate Division’s decision, holding that a trial court commits reversible error when it provides the jury with a written copy of the entire jury charge, including statutory text, over the defendant’s objection. This is a violation of CPL 310.30, which prohibits giving copies of statutory text to a deliberating jury without the consent of all parties. The defendant was convicted of criminal possession of a weapon, but the conviction was overturned due to the trial court’s error in providing the full written charge to the jury during deliberations.
Facts
The defendant was convicted of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree after a jury trial. During jury deliberations, the jury requested a written copy of the court’s entire charge. The trial court, over the defendant’s objections, complied with this request.
Procedural History
The Appellate Division reversed the judgment of conviction, concluding that providing the written charge was error, and ordered a new trial. A Justice of the Appellate Division dissented from the reversal. The People appealed to the New York Court of Appeals by leave of the dissenting Justice.
Issue(s)
Whether the trial court erred in providing the deliberating jury with a written copy of the entire jury charge, which included statutory text, over the defendant’s objection, in violation of CPL 310.30.
Holding
Yes, because CPL 310.30 prohibits giving copies of statutory text to a deliberating jury without the consent of the parties, and the defendant expressly objected to providing the entire charge in writing, which included statutory material.
Court’s Reasoning
The Court of Appeals reasoned that CPL 310.30 specifically prohibits providing copies of statutory text to a deliberating jury unless all parties consent. The court emphasized that the statute’s allowance for the jury to request further instruction or information on pertinent matters does not override the specific prohibition against providing statutory text. The Court distinguished between answering specific questions from the jury and providing the entire written charge, which included statutory material that is forbidden. Since the entire written jury instruction included statutory text, the Appellate Division correctly concluded that providing it over the defendant’s objection constituted reversible error.
The court cited prior cases, including People v Taylor, 76 NY2d 873; People v Nimmons, 72 NY2d 830; and People v Owens, 69 NY2d 585, to support the holding that providing statutory text to the jury without consent is reversible error.
The Court directly quoted the statute noting CPL 310.30 prohibits giving “copies of the text of any statute” to a deliberating jury without the consent of the parties.