Strickland v. State

The defendant was on trial for a misdemeanor, and the jury were out considering the case when the court took a recess for dinner. The jury were left by the court in the charge of a bailiff, without any instruction or intimation which permitted them to disperse, and there was no agreement on the part of the defendant or his counsel that the jury might disperse after agreeing to a verdict, or that a sealed verdict might be returned. During the recess the bailiff permitted the jury to disperse and to go out and mingle with the people generally. When court reconvened, after the dinner recess, the…