State v. McLaughlin

EXUM, Chief Justice.

The sole question presented by this appeal is whether the trial judge committed reversible error when he responded to the jury’s request to review certain testimony by sending a message to the jury through the bailiff rather than by addressing the jury as a whole in open court. We hold that the trial court’s actions, though erroneous, did not prejudice defendant. We therefore find no reversible error in defendant’s convictions and the judgments entered against him.

I

The state’s evidence tended to show that defendant lived in Caswell County with Angela Stone and their…