People v. Gabor

In People v. Gabor, 237 Mich App 501; 603 NW2d 840 (1999), the jury erroneously returned a guilty verdict of first- and second-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC) despite that the defendant was charged only with fourth-degree CSC. The trial court excused the jury after it read the erroneous verdicts, but recalled the jury several minutes later, at which time it reread the verdicts, finding the defendant guilty of fourth-degree CSC. Id. at 502-503. The Court ultimately approved the jury's recall, concluding that "a rule of reasonableness" permitted recall of the jury to render the proper verdict where it was apparent from the record that despite the foreperson's misstatement the verdict form clearly indicated that the jury found the defendant guilty of the fourth-degree CSC charges. Id. at 503-504.