State v. Goodman, ___ N.C. App. ___, 808 S.E.2d 791 (Dec. 5, 2017)

Although declining to reach the merits of the defendant’s claim that the trial court erred in handling a juror’s inquiry about whether jurors may question witnesses, the court noted that whether to allow jurors to question witnesses is within the sound discretion of the trial court. Although the trial court may allow jurors to ask witnesses questions, the better practice is for the jury to submit written questions to the trial judge, who then has a bench conference with the attorneys, hearing any objections that they might have. The judge would then question the witnesses.