Harris v. State

FRY, Judge.

The appellant, Ed Franklin Harris, was convicted of trafficking in cocaine. He was sentenced on December 4, 1998, to life imprisonment upon application of the Habitual Felony Offender Act (“HFOA”).

I

The appellant contends that the trial court’s “Allen charge,” given when the jury indicated it was deadlocked, was im-permissibly suggestive in the jury’s reaching a guilty verdict.

In Allen v. United States, 164 U.S. 492, 493, 17 S.Ct. 154, 155, 41 L.Ed. 528, 529 (1896), the United States Supreme Court held that a trial court may, within certain limits, urge a jury that has indicated…