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State v. Fortin2/3/2004
ous assault and battery. Id. at 263-64.
The court precluded that questioning because the prior criminal conviction would become evidential for impeachment purposes only if the defendant took the stand to testify, and the defendant refused to commit to testifying at so early a stage in the proceedings. Id. at 264-65. Accordingly, at the time of jury selection, the admissibility of the prior conviction was contingent on an uncertain event 23af whether the defendant would elect to testify. The trial court, "by refusing to allow defendant to admit the previous conviction while questioning prospective jurors," was protecting the defendant from irremediable prejudice in the event that he did not testify. Id. at 270-71. Under those circumstances, this Court held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by refusing to permit voir dire regarding the defendant's prior conviction, because the defendant had not indicated a present intention to take the stand at trial. Ibid.
Manley emphasized that trial courts are vested with wide discretion to determine the line of inquiry at voir dire. Id. at 269. For example, had the defendant indicated an intention to testify, it would have been within the discretion of the trial court to allow the lawyers to question potential jurors about the defendant's prior conviction. Ibid. Preserving the trial court's discretion was critical because even had the defendant indicated an intention to testify during jury selection, he could not be bound by that decision.
In addition to deciding the precise issue in Manley, this Court took the opportunity to address endemic abuses in the manner in which lawyers conducted voir dire at that time. Id. at 271-83. The Court's objective was "to draw some restrictive guidelines for future control of the jury-drawing process." Id. at 263. Given the prevalence of "voir dire examination of jurors at inordinate length and on improper subjects," ibid., this Court intended to eliminate counsels' efforts at partisan persuasion and indoctrination of prospective jurors, and their use of "the hypothetical question intended and so framed as to commit or to pledge jurors to a point of view." Id. at 281.
In recent years, we have taken occasion to correct the misapplication of Manley by trial courts in capital cases. See, e.g., State v. Biegenwald, 126 N.J. 1, 33 (1991) (Biegenwald IV) ("Regrettably, we perceive from the records in many of the cases coming before us that trial courts have read Manley... to limit voir dire to the bare minimum necessary to qualify a juror."); State v. Moore, 122 N.J. 420, 455 (1991) ("Although Manley may be read as discouraging [the questioning of prospective jurors concerning their understanding of the burden of proof and presumption of innocence]... capital cases require a thorough and searching inquiry in regard to voir dire.") (internal quotation marks omitted). Once again, we do so here. In capital cases, " counsel must be afforded the opportunity for a thorough voir dire to evaluate and assess jurors' attitudes in order to effectively participate in jury selection. If counsel is unable to screen out prejudice and bias, that inevitably leads to unfair juries." Williams II, supra, 113 N.J. at 409. We are unwilling to undermine the integrity of the trial process, even where the evidence of guilt is compelling. Ibid. The right to a fair trial does not depend on the nature of the crime charged or the quantum of evidence produced against a defendant. Ibid.
In Biegenwald IV, supra, we held that, in the penalty phase of a capital case, the trial court's refusal to permit voir dire of the defendant's other murder convictions denied the defendant his right to a fair and impartial j
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