Rule 31. Jury Verdict

(a) Return. The verdict shall be unanimous. It shall be returned by the jury to the court in open court, in the presence of the defendant or defendants.

(b) Several Defendants. If there are two or more defendants, the jury at any time during its deliberation may return a verdict or verdicts with respect to a defendant or defendants as to whom it has agreed; if the jury cannot agree with respect to all, the defendant or defendants as to whom it does not agree may be tried again.

(c) Poll of Jury. When a verdict is returned and before it is recorded the jury shall be polled at the request of any party or upon the court's own motion. If upon the poll there is not unanimous concurrence, the jury may be directed to retire for further deliberations or may be discharged.

(d) Verdict on Nonbusiness Days and After Hours. The court may receive a verdict on any nonbusiness day or outside business hours, from a jury that commenced its deliberations on a regular business day.

Committee Notes

Committee Advisory Note [December 2014] The Rule parallels the content of Rule 31 of the Maine Rules of Criminal Procedure except that in subdivision (a) the word "court" replaces the word "justice."

[Advisory Notes to former Maine Rules of Criminal Procedure]

Advisory Committee Note—1976 [M.R. Crim. P. 31(c).] This amendment is not intended to make any change in the law. It is merely a recognition that the determination of what is a lesser included offense is more a matter of substantive law than procedural law. See: State v. Leeman , Me., 291 A.2d 709 (1972). For this reason, it is probably beyond the scope of the rule making power to seek to define what shall be considered a lesser included offense. See: 4 M.R.S. § 9.

Advisory Committee Note—1983 [M.R. Crim. P. 31(c).] The subject of lesser included offenses is now covered comprehensively by statute. 17-A M.R.S. § 13-A. Rule 31(c) now fails to accurately state the law; but more importantly, as a procedural rule it is an inappropriate vehicle for conveying the substantive law of lesser included offenses.

Advisory Committee Note—1989 [M.R. Crim. P. 31.] The heading of new Rule 31 is clarified by adding the word "JURY" before the word "VERDICT." Fortner subdivisions "(d)" and "(e)" are now subdivisions "(c)" and "(d)."

Advisory Committee Notes—2000 [M.R. Crim. P. 31(d).] This amendment, in addition to making certain formalistic changes, replaces the phrase "a court holiday" with "any nonbusiness day" because the phrase "court holiday" is now used in amended Rule 5(a) and new Rule 5C(a) to include those nonjudicial days, although not a weekend or legal holiday, in which the court is simply not available due to, for example, judicial conferences, employee vacations, sickness or inclement weather. See Advisory Committee Note to M.R. Crim. P. 5.