State v. Reeves

WEBB, Justice.

The defendant first assigns error to what he contends was an improper communication by the court with the foreman of the jury out of the presence of the other jurors. After the jury had been deliberating for approximately two hours, the judge had them returned to the courtroom at 5:10 p.m. He asked the jury if they would like to break for the evening or whether they wanted to continue their deliberation. At the request of the jury, the judge allowed the jury to return to the jury room to decide whether they wanted to continue deliber ating. The judge told the jury at that time…