DeAngelis v. State

Summary

The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the Superior Court’s denial of Douglas DeAngelis’s motion for a new trial. The Court held that the trial court’s response to the jury’s hypothetical question about a partial hung jury was not an Allen charge and therefore did not require application of the coercion test for Allen instructions.

Holdings

1. The trial court's response was not an Allen charge because the jury had not reported a deadlock, the court expressly acknowledged that a partial hung jury and mistrial were permissible, and the response did not ask jurors to reconsider firmly held views or require that a verdict be returned.
2. Because the trial court's response was not an Allen charge, the Court did not apply the four-factor Streitfeld coercion test.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court's response to the jury's hypothetical question about a partial verdict constituted an Allen charge.
2. If the response constituted an Allen charge, whether it had a coercive effect under the four-factor test articulated in Streitfeld.

Disposition

affirmed