Defendant Jonas was on trial for 1st degree manslaughter. The trial was 8 days long. The jury was then given instructions and went into the jury room to deliberate. Approximately two hours later, the jury sent a note out to the judge saying that they could not reach a verdict. After receiving the note, the judge met with the jury in a group and told them that they had not deliberated long enough, that they may be missing the importance of some evidence, or maybe were not looking at all of the evidence. After this meeting with the judge, the jury went back to deliberations and, five hours later returned a guilty verdict. The defendant

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The defendant has an argument that the verdict should be overturned due to the ex parte communication between the judge and the jury. The judge's meeting with the jury in a group could be seen as an inappropriate communication and may have influenced the jury's decision.

Defendant Jonas Was on Trial for 1st Degree Manslaughter