White v. State4/15/2003
Bell, C.J. and Eldridge, J., dissent
We granted certiorari in this case to decide two questions: whether the Court of Special Appeals should have applied Dingle v. State, 361 Md. 1, 759 A.2d 819 (2000), in deciding whether the trial court erred in the voir dire examination of the jury venire, and whether petitioner's statement was inadmissible in evidence because the police officers interrogated him in violation of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1966). The Court of Special Appeals, in an unreported opinion, resolved both issues in favor of the State, thus, affirming the petitioner's conviction. We shall affirm.
I.
On February 7, 2000, at J. Brown Jewelers in Baltimore County, petitioner and three other men participated in an armed robbery. An off-duty Baltimore County police officer, Bruce Prothero, was working as a security guard at the store and was shot and killed by one of the robbers. Petitioner was charged by the Grand Jury for Baltimore County with first degree murder, armed robbery, first degree assault and use of a handgun in the commission of a felony. The jury convicted him of first degree murder, armed robbery and the handgun violation. The court sentenced him to life without parole for the felony murder and a term of twenty years concurrent incarceration on the handgun violation.
The Circuit Court began jury selection on August 22 and concluded on August 23, 2000. The court first conducted general voir dire of the entire panel, followed by individual voir dire of each venire person at the bench. Four voir dire questions, in compound form, were asked by the court in the general voir dire. The questions were as follows:
"Is there any prospective juror, or a relative of a prospective juror who has ever been employed in any fashion at any time by any type of law enforcement agency, either civilian or military, and because of that employment you believe that you could not render a fair and impartial verdict in this case? If your answer is yes, please stand now and give your juror call-in number only.
"Has any member of this jury panel ever served as a juror before either as a grand juror or a petit juror and, if so, that would render you incapable of making a fair and impartial verdict in this case, if you were selected. Please stand now if your answer is yes and give your juror call-in number only.
"Is there any prospective juror who has a relative, or you, yourself, who are presently or who formerly worked either as an attorney, a law clerk, a paralegal or attend a school relating the field of law and because of that you believe you could not render a fair and impartial verdict in this case, if you were selected? If your answer is yes, please stand now and give your juror call-in number only.
"Is there any prospective juror who has any connection with the Maryland Crime Coalition, or other advocacy group or lobbying group for victim rights or offender punishment, specifically, handgun control, rape crisis counseling, victims rights organizations, for example, the Stephanie Roper Committee, child abuse advocates, spousal abuse, Mothers Against Drunk Driving , Students Against Drunk Driving and, because of your participation with such an organization, you believe you could not render a fair and impartial verdict in this case, if you were selected? If your answer is yes, please stand now and give your juror call-in number only."
Petitioner objected to the compound questions and asked the court to require the prospective juror to answer separately each part of the question. The court refused.
Following the general voir dire, the trial co
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