State v. Beaver

WEBB, Justice.

The defendant’s only assignment of error is to what he contends is the court’s coercion of the jury into reaching a verdict. He says this was done by the questions and comments of the court to the jury. The question of a court’s coercion of a jury to reach a verdict has been considered in several cases. See State v. Forrest, 321 N.C. 186, 362 S.E. 2d 252 (1987); State v. Bussey, 321 N.C. 92, 361 S.E. 2d 564 (1987); State v. Fowler, 312 N.C. 304, 322 S.E. 2d 389 (1984); and State v. Yarborough, 64 N.C. App. 500, 307 S.E. 2d 794 (1983). The rule from these cases is that the…