Problems with a Partial Verdict

When a trial takes place in the public eye, a number of particular issues arise. For example, it can be especially difficult to build an unbiased jury with pervasive news coverage of the trial. Once an unbiased jury is found, it can be difficult to ensure that the jurors are not biased by the media coverage of the case. If the trial needs to be done over again, or at least partially redone, these issues can double. It is for that reason that the judges of these trials are particularly wary of allowing juries to give partial verdicts.

We have seen question of a partial verdict arise in the highly public trial of Harvey Weinstein. The jurors in this trial have been deliberating throughout this past week, and on Friday afternoon, the jurors sent a note to the judge asking about the possibility of a partial verdict. They asked if they could return a unanimous verdict on the three lesser charges but be hung on the two charges of predatory sexual assault. While Weinstein's lawyers said that they would accept this partial verdict, the prosecutors did not, and the judge refused to allow it, sending the jurors back to deliberations.

In New York, if a criminal jury has reached a verdict with respect to one or more, but not all of the offenses submitted to the jury and there is a reasonable possibility of ultimate agreement on the remaining offenses, the court has the discretion to either accept the jury's partial verdict or order the jury to resume deliberation. However, judges are not required to accept a jury's partial verdict, and if the jury can ultimately only come to a partial verdict, the judge may still declare a mistrial.

While the judge in the Weinstein case sent the jury back to continue deliberation, what would have happened if the judge had accepted the jury's partial verdict on the lesser charges?

Following a partial verdict, the remaining charges, in this case what would have been the charges of predatory sexual assault, would end in a mistrial and would be re-litigated in a new trial. The new jury would have to keep in mind the verdict of the past jury, as the it would be required to accept the first jury's findings on the issues that it could decide on. This would further complicate the judicial process in this case and would bring back up the same issues that arose in the first case.

While a partial verdict can provide relief to a hopelessly deadlocked jury, it can bring up a number of issues. For example, if a jury knows that it may decide only some of the issues, the jurors could view a partial verdict as a way of getting out of deliberations, which can be a frustrating process. This potential issue is particularly relevant for the Weinstein jurors, as they remained deadlocked on the most severe and the most complicated charges given to them. If this jury gives a partial verdict on the lesser charges, they can simply pass on the more severe charges for another jury to decide. If any portion of this trial would need to be retried, all of the issues that came up out of this trial being in the public eye would come up yet again.

It is for those reason that the judge in this case has encouraged the jury to continue their deliberations to come to a unanimous verdict on each charge against Weinstein.