A Pennsylvania Superior Court panel has ruled that a Philadelphia judge improperly coerced the jury in a criminal trial when he told the members of the panel it was “not time for people to stand on ego” after being informed twice that there were two holdouts as to two of the charges against the defendant.
Vacating the sentence in Commonwealth v. Greer — which involved charges of robbery, aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy against defendant Benjamin Greer — the 2-to-1 majority noted that Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Gary S. Glazer did not disclose to counsel the split revealed to him by the jury in its first note, nor did he instruct the jury not to again reveal to him such information, which they did roughly two hours later.
