United States v. George Marcus Smith

HAYNSWORTH, Chief Judge.

In this direct appeal, we think the defendant is entitled to a new trial because the jury was given an unbalanced version of the “Allen” charge.

This Dyer Act case was submitted to the jury at some unspecified hour during the morning. At 12:15 o’clock in the afternoon, the foreman was recalled and asked if he thought the jury would soon reach a verdict. He responded that he thought not, whereupon the court instructed the Marshal to take the jury to lunch. Upon its return from lunch, the following proceedings were had:

The Court: I think I will charge this jury a little…