Is it appropriate for a judge to answer a jury's written question by email rather than in open court?

The pressures of modern life (together with technological advances) have brought about significant, perhaps long overdue, changes in judicial attitudes toward efforts to achieve efficiency in the conduct of trials. In 1969, this court expressed doubt whether it was proper for a judge to answer a jury's written question by sending back a written note, rather than delivering the answer "in open court in the presence of the defendant and his attorney ... in the proper atmosphere...." United States v. Schor, 418 F.2d 26, 29-30 (2d Cir.1969). In the same case, our court expressed doubt whether it was proper to honor a jury's request to inspect a witness's testimony in the jury room, rather than conduct the stately traditional courtroom reading. Today, twenty-five years later, it is commonplace for district court judges to send written answers to jury questions, after proper consultation with counsel in the presence of the defendant, ¹

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