 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
State v. Fortin2/3/2004
o so. As in the guilt-phase voir dire, the court appeared excessively concerned with saving time in the jury selection process. The court stated that the prosecution could transfer its remaining peremptory to defendant if it wished, but that it would not grant an additional challenge. Not surprisingly, the State did not part with its last peremptory challenge. Rather than excuse M.T., defendant exercised his last peremptory challenge to remove W.B., a prospective juror who had expressed his belief that life sentences are more expensive than executions, and "raise the taxes up." M.T. thus became a deliberating juror and returned a death verdict.
Trial courts conducting voir dire are best able to evaluate the credibility and sincerity of a prospective juror in a way that the record will never allow. For that reason, trial courts are granted broad discretion to assess the qualifications of jurors, and the exercise of that discretion "will ordinarily not be disturbed on appeal." State v. Josephs, supra, 174 N.J. at 104 (quoting State v. Jackson, 43 N.J. 148, 160 (1964), cert. denied, 379 U.S. 982, 85 S.Ct. 690, 13 L.Ed. 2d 572 (1965)). Nevertheless, a defendant may be entitled to a new trial if he has been forced to use one of his allotted peremptory challenges in order to excuse a juror who should have been excused for cause. State v. Deatore, 70 N.J. 100, 104-06 (1976); see also State v. Pereira, 202 N.J. Super. 434, 439 (App. Div. 1985) (reversing conviction "where defendant was obliged to use a peremptory challenge to excuse a venireman whom he had a right to challenge for cause and to proceed to trial with an unsatisfactory jury").
Expedience must never override the painstaking process of selecting impartial jurors in a capital case. The pre qualification of additional jurors in the penalty phase, however inconvenient or time-consuming, should not matter if the objectivity of a juror seated in the box is subject to some reasonable doubt. We think it ill-advised, as a general rule, to seat any juror who is acquainted with a murder victim's loved ones, no matter how convincingly that individual proclaims his or her ability to remain impartial. Those good-faith assurances do not assuage our common-sense concern that someone who had met and interacted with the young children of the victim of a heinous sexual assault and murder might be incapable of impartiality. See State v. Koskovich, supra, 168 N.J. at 511 (noting unlikelihood that capital jurors can "divest themselves of ordinary human emotions and disregard all feelings they may have for the victim's family"); see also Deatore, supra, 70 N.J. at 104-05 (reversing robbery convictions because trial court erroneously refused, after all defense peremptory challenges were exhausted, to grant extra peremptory challenge or permit further voir dire of juror who insisted she would be fair and impartial despite acquaintance with victim both personally and professionally); Jackson, supra, 43 N.J. at 157, 160 (reversing capital convictions where trial court erroneously refused, after all defense peremptory challenges were exhausted, to dismiss for cause challenged replacement juror who insisted he would be fair and impartial despite close ties to local law enforcement witness).
"In any sound judicial system it is essential not only that justice be done but also that it appear to be done." Jackson, supra, 43 N.J. at 160-61 (emphasis added). This is true particularly in capital cases, where life itself hangs in the balance. Id. at 156. A prospective juror whose obvious connection with a party might affect that juror's impartiality should be excused by the court, even if counsel does not make the request. Deatore, supra, 70 N.J. at 106. It is better
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 New Jersey DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|