Appeals court hears challenge to modified unanimity instruction and jury‑deliberation timing in State v. Sliger

The Court of Criminal Appeals heard argument in State of Tennessee v. Billy Gene Sliger on whether the trial court misused a modified unanimity instruction and whether the trial judge’s communication with the jury during deliberations created coercive pressure.

Public defender Mitch Raines, representing Billy Gene Sliger, argued that the trial court incorrectly gave a modified unanimity instruction under Qualls (referred to in briefing) because the victim, then 15, testified in a manner that the defense says was sufficiently specific and limited to three discrete incidents of penetration. Raines told the panel the modified instruction is intended for prosecutions involving numerous, often indistinct instances where a child cannot identify discrete events; he said the…