<br><br>29A.320 Duty of jury and officer after submission -- Causes for discharge of jury -- <br>Procedure for rendering verdict. <br>(1) When the case is finally submitted to the jury, they shall retire for deliberation. <br>When they retire, they shall be kept together in some convenient place, under the <br>charge of an officer, until they agree upon a verdict or are discharged by the court, <br>subject to the Supreme Court rules permitting them to separate temporarily at night <br>and for their meals. The officer having them under his charge shall not allow any <br>communications to be made to them, nor make any himself, except to ask them if <br>they have agreed upon their verdict, unless by order of the court; and he shall not, <br>before their verdict is rendered, communicate to any person the state of their <br>deliberations, or the verdict agreed upon. <br>(2) (a) The jury may be discharged by the court on account of the sickness of a juror, <br>or other accident, calamity or circumstance requiring their discharge; or, by <br>consent of both parties; or, after they have been kept together until it <br>satisfactorily appears that there is no probability of their agreeing. <br>(b) Cases in which the jury are discharged without making a verdict shall be tried <br>again at such time as the court may direct. <br>(3) The procedure for rendering the verdict shall be: <br>(a) When the jury have agreed on their verdict, the verdict shall be written and <br>signed by the foreman. <br>(b) When a verdict is rendered by less than the whole jury, it shall be signed by all <br>the jurors who agree to it. <br>(c) The foreman shall hand the verdict to the judge who shall read the verdict and <br>then make inquiry of the jury as to whether it is their verdict. <br>(d) When the verdict is announced either party may require that the jury be polled, <br>which is done by the judge asking each juror if it is his verdict. <br>(e) If more than the number of jurors required by KRS 29A.280, as appropriate to <br>the type of case being tried, answers in the negative, the jury must be sent out <br>for further deliberation. <br>(f) If no disagreement is expressed or, in an appropriate case, an insufficient <br>number disagree, the verdict is complete and the jury shall be discharged from <br>the case. <br>Effective: January 2, 1978 <br>History: Created 1976 (1st Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 22, sec. 43, effective January 2, <br>1978. <br><br>