People v. Cooper

The defendant maintains that he was deprived of a fair trial by reason of the trial court’s conduct during the jury deliberations. We agree and, accordingly, reverse the judgment of conviction and order a new trial.

Following the trial court’s jury charge and after the jury left the courtroom to deliberate, the trial court, in the presence of defense counsel, sent a court officer into the jury room with a verdict sheet and directed him to instruct the jury to use the sheet "for an idea as to how they should deliberate”. On the next day, the jury advised the trial court in writing that it could…