Andrews v. State

OPINION

GRANT, Justice.

James Andrews appeals his murder conviction. He was found guilty by a jury, and his punishment was assessed at sixty years’ confinement in the penitentiary.

Andrews contends that the trial court erred by giving the jury an additional written instruction without reading it in open court in the presence of the defendant and his counsel. He further contends that the trial court erred because this additional instruction coerced the members of the jury to reach a verdict without a full deliberation because the instruction informed them that they would be locked up together for…