Cases | State v. Crane, 918 P.2d 1256 (Kan. 1996) | 2018
The defendant was convicted of kidnapping, attempted aggravated sodomy, attempted rape, and lewd and lascivious behavior. During deliberations, the jury requested that a portion of the victim’s testimony be read to them. On appeal, the defendant claimed that: (1) Kan. Stat. Ann. § 22-3420 expressly authorized only the defendant and his or her counsel to be present during the readback; (2) the codified list of court proceedings from which victim attendance cannot be barred does not include jury-requested readbacks; and (3) the victim’s display of emotion during the readback was tantamount to introducing additional evidence of emotional trauma after the close of the evidence. The supreme court held that: (1) section 22-3420 requires that the defendant and counsel be given the opportunity to attend the readback, but it neither requires nor implies that any other persons should be excluded from the proceeding; (2) the defendant had no basis for treating a jury-requested readback and jury deliberations as separate and independent proceedings; and (3) there was no abuse of the trial court’s discretion in permitting the victim to be present for the readback or in not removing her once she began crying. There was no request to move the victim from the jury’s presence after she began crying, and she left the courtroom of her own accord. The victim’s distress might have been obscured if defense counsel had suggested at the outset how to minimize its impact on the jurors.