§ 16-89-118 - Conduct of jury.
16-89-118. Conduct of jury.
(a) (1) In the discretion of the court, the jurors may be permitted to separate or be kept together in the charge of proper officers before the case is submitted to them. The officers must be sworn to keep the jury together during the adjournment of the court and to suffer no person to speak to or communicate with them on any subject connected with the trial, nor to do so themselves.
(2) Whether permitted to separate or kept in the charge of officers, the jury must be admonished by the court that it is their duty not to permit anyone to speak to or communicate with them on any subject connected with the trial and that all attempts to do so should be immediately reported by them to the court, and that they should not converse among themselves on any subject connected with the trial or form or express any opinion thereon until the cause is finally submitted to them. This admonition must be given or referred to by the court at each adjournment.
(b) (1) When, in the opinion of the court, it is necessary that the jury should view the place in which the offense is charged to have been committed or in which any other material fact occurred, it may order the jury to be conducted in a body, in the custody of proper officers, to the place, which must be shown to them by the judge or by a person appointed by the court for that purpose.
(2) The officers must be sworn to suffer no person to speak or communicate with the jury on any subject connected with the trial, nor do so themselves, except for the mere showing of the place to be viewed, and to return them into court without unnecessary delay or at a specified time.