Louisiana Supreme Court Overturns Allen Charge Ban

This episode details the Louisiana Supreme Court's decision in State of Louisiana v. Dionte Bracken, a case addressing the legality of "Allen charges" in jury deliberations. The Per Curiam opinion reverses a lower court's ruling, finding that the trial judge's supplemental instructions to a jury, which had inquired about a hung jury, were not coercive. The Court explicitly abrogates its prior decision in State v. Nicholson, which had previously banned "Allen charges" in Louisiana, aligning the state with the majority of other jurisdictions that permit such instructions, provided they are not coercive under the totality of the circumstances. Concurring opinions further discuss the defendant's failure to contemporaneously object to the instructions and commend the Court for correcting what one justice deemed a previous judicial error lacking constitutional basis.