"In olden days a number of methods were used to ensure that juries reached a unanimous verdict. From the fourteenth through the eighteenth centuries, one “method of accelerating unanimity” was to prohibit jurors from eating or drinking until they all agreed on a verdict."

That's how Chief Judge Carnes starts out this entertaining opinion about deadlocked juries.  The entire introduction:

In olden days a number of methods were used to ensure that juries reached a unanimous verdict. From the fourteenth through the eighteenth centuries, one“method of accelerating unanimity” was to prohibit jurors from eating or drinking until they all agreed on a verdict. 3 William Blackstone, Commentaries *375. And if jurors did not unanimously agree on one before the judges left town, Blackstone recounted, “the judges are not bound to wait for them, but may carry them round the circuit from town to town in a cart.” Id. at *376. They were hauled around in the cart “until a judgment ‘bounced out.’” Renico v. Lett, 559 U.S. 766, 780, 130 S. Ct. 1855, 1866 (2010) (Stevens, J., dissenting). Which is to say until the resolve bounced out of the holdout jurors.
In one seventeenth-century sedition trial (involving William Penn and a co-defendant), the jury deadlocked on the most serious charge. George C. Thomas III & Mark Greenbaum, Justice Story Cuts the Gordian Knot of Hung Jury Instructions, 15 Wm. & Mary Bill Rights J. 893, 898–99 (2007). The judge responded by threatening to have a juror named Bushel branded unless the jury agreed that the defendants were guilty as charged. Id. at 899. When no verdict was forthcoming, the judge did not send for a branding iron, but he did have all the jurors “locked in the jury room without meat, drink, fire, and tobacco” until they could agree. Id. (quotation marks omitted). After nicotine withdrawal and the prospect of starvation failed to work, “the judge threatened to cut Bushel’s throat” if there were no verdict. Id. (Thus posing the prospect of a dead juror to unlock a deadlocked jury.) When even that threat did not bring forth a unanimous verdict, the judge gave up. Id. Bushel escaped the experience unbranded and with his throat intact, while the jury as a whole escaped with its disagreement intact. But the judge was angry enough at the jurors’ failure to agree that he fined each of them forty marks for their intransigence. Id. Fortunately, when the case made it to the Court of Common Pleas the fines were set aside. Id. at 899–900. History does not record if Bushel or any of the eleven other brave souls ever served on another jury.
Since those days, we have come a long way and now accept that some jury deliberations will end in deadlock. United States v. Rey, 811 F.2d 1453, 1460 (11th Cir. 1987) (“The jury trial system has not malfunctioned when the jury cannot reach a verdict. One of the safeguards against the conviction of innocent persons built into our criminal justice system is that a jury may not be able to reach a unanimous verdict.”). We no longer try to coerce holdout jurors to reach a verdict that they cannot abide. Or at least most of the time we don’t.

The opinion goes on to grant a habeas petition for ineffective assistance of counsel:

The jury that convicted our appellant, Sumnar Brewster, might feel some affinity with juries of yesteryear. Over the period of two days of deliberations the jurors repeatedly told the judges –– there was one judge on the first day of deliberations and a different one on the second day –– that they could not reach a unanimous verdict. And the judges repeatedly ordered them to keep trying. All told, the jurors sent six notes to the two judges stating that they could not reach a verdict.
Three times the jurors disclosed how they were divided: first reporting that they were deadlocked 9 to 3 for conviction, later that they were still deadlocked but now 11 to 1 in favor of conviction, and still later that the one holdout juror was continuing to hold out. Throughout the deadlocking, the judges gave a formal Allen charge, later two additional admonitions that the jurors must continue deliberating, and finally, another long charge that included instructions to keep on deliberating. That lengthy charge emphasized that the jurors had taken an oath to follow the law, which meant they must deliberate more. The judge ended his instructions with the challenge that he had taken his oath seriously and hoped they would do the same.
Shortly thereafter, when told that the one juror who wouldn’t vote to convict was doing crossword puzzles, the judge ordered all the reading materials taken out of the jury room. That tactic turned out to be even more effective than threatening to kill the hapless Bushel had been in William Penn’s case three hundred years before. Just 18 minutes after all reading materials were removed, Brewster’s jury dutifully –– and we do mean dutifully –– returned a guilty verdict. Through it all Brewster’s two attorneys neither objected nor moved for a mistrial. Not once.
This is Brewster’s appeal from the denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for a writ of habeas corpus. He claims that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to object, or move for a mistrial, at any point during the deadlocked deliberations.

Trump formally renominates 3 SDFLA judges

Good news for nominees Roy Altman, Rudy Ruiz, and Rodney Smith as Trump has renominated them for judgeships here in the Southern District of Florida.  It is unclear how long it will take for them to get their final hearings. 

In other news, thanks to Raychel Lean at the DBR for picking up the TB story here.

FDC Shutdown continues (UPDATED -- FDC BACK UP)

FDC-Miami is still shutdown due to a supposed TB scare.  That means no legal or social visits.  It also means that no defendants are being brought over to court.  At least one trial was cancelled today because of it.  There have been many TB outbreaks at FDC over the years, but that has never stopped visits and court for any lengthy period of time before.  This is definitely a first.

Here's an update from one of the Miami marshals:

This email is intended to provide an update regarding the current PRECAUTIONARY QUARANTINE status within the FDC-Miami facility. As you may be aware, last Thursday evening the USMS was informed by FDC leadership & medical managers of an inmate with a potentially active case of Tuberculosis. Given a number of concerns regarding this notification, to include: the inmate’s transport into S/FL, recent court appearances within the District, potential impact within his actual designated facility (FCI Yazoo – Mississippi), and work there as a facility cook, USMS management (in consultation with FDC medical managers) recommended to the Judiciary a cancelation of the scheduled Miami Division in-custody court matters for last Friday (1/18/2019).

At this time FDC medical managers still have not received the final test results which they are certain will provide a definitive Negative/Positive confirmation in this specific case, and are uncertain as to when they will receive those results (we’re hopeful that they are returned sometime tomorrow afternoon). As a result of the delay in receiving the test results and in an abundance of caution, it is very likely that FDC will need an additional day of inmate quarantine (Tuesday – 1/22/2019) to work through this matter. The USMS is well aware of the disruption(s) this causes all affected parties, however, given the involvement of the Florida Department of Health, CDC, & U.S. Public Health Service, the USMS & FDC (BOP) would be negligent in attempting to move forward without all of the proper clearances and authorizations to do so.

We are in direct contact with the Judiciary/Court, and will continue to provide any/all information received, in hopes of resuming District operations within the Miami Division as quickly as possible. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me at any time. Thank you.

UPDATE -- BOP has determined that the TB is "not infectious" and is reopening.  Normal operations begin tomorrow.  From the Marshals office:

 Chief Cooper will be sending out a notice indicating that we got the “all clear” from FDC about 30 minutes ago.  The TB was determined “not infectious” so we will return to normal operating procedures as of tomorrow morning.

Shutdown at FDC-Miami

While TSA workers are calling in sick, the Bureau of Prison guards are cancelling visits, including attorney visits. They are saying that there “may be” a “recent inmate” who was “possibly” diagnosed with tuberculosis.

You can't really blame them for making up the TB scare.  The shutdown is absurd. 

Stokeling is decided 5-4 for the Government

The Supreme Court affirmed the 11th Circuit in an odd 5-4 lineup in which Chief Justice Roberts (along withe Kagan and Ginsburg) joined Justice Sotomayor in dissent.  Justice Thomas held for the majority: The Armed Career Criminal Act’s elements clause encompasses a robbery offense that, like Florida’s law, requires the criminal to overcome the victim’s resistance.

It used to be mildly surprising when Justice Breyer voted against criminal defendants, but that is the norm now.  He is among the worst justices on criminal justice issues.  In this case, one friend put it this way:  Breyer literally snatched victory from Stokeling's hands, violently.

This case is a pretty good example of how Scalia's death really affected the Court on criminal justice issues.  Scalia wrote the Johnson decision on which Stokeling's argument was based.  He likely would have sided with the defense here, where his replacement sided with the government.