State v. Conner

After the jurors had deliberated upon the case for some time, they returned to the courtroom and, after informing the court they desired further information on a matter that had arisen, one of the jurors propounded this question: “Will the defendant be eligible for parole if he were given life imprisonment ?” To the inquiry the court replied without further elaboration: “Gentlemen, I cannot answer that question.”

*469For tbe court to have answered the question propounded by the jury so as to have given them the information sought would have been to tell them in substance that the defendant, if…