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State v. Hill7/5/2001
ad not objected to the use of an anonymous jury.
As another basis for its decision, the court of appeals determined that appellee was penalized at trial for invoking his right to remain silent. The court of appeals found that a police detective improperly testified at trial regarding appellee's invocation of the right and that the state improperly commented on appellee's invocation of the right in closing argument. The court of appeals found that appellee did not object to the testimony, but determined that reversal was warranted because plain error occurred.
The cause is now before this court pursuant to the allowance of a discretionary appeal.
II. Anonymous Jury Issue
The first issue we address is whether the utilization of an anonymous jury at appellee's trial constituted reversible error.
A.
The jury trial in this case was conducted in accordance with Loc.R. 1.14 of the Court of Common Pleas of Fairfield County. That rule, effective May 2, 1996, provides:
"GRAND JURY AND PETIT JURY LISTS-The names and addresses of grand jurors and petit jurors will remain anonymous, except upon court order after a hearing and for good cause shown. The Clerk of Courts, the Jury Commission, Jury Manager, Fairfield County Sherriff , and the Court shall have access to the names and addresses for administrative purposes. The Prosecutor may have access to the names of the grand jurors on an as needed basis."
The introductory paragraph that accompanied the rule at the time it was promulgated provided:
"In order to maintain secrecy of the grand jury proceedings and the privacy of petit jurors, to alleviate the concern of the jurors for fear of intimidation and/or harassment, to encourage jurors' willingness to participate as jurors, and to fulfill the Court's promise of confidentiality, it is hereby ordered that Local Rule of Court 1.14, Jury Questionnaires, is hereby repealed and the Court establishes a new Local Rule of Court 1.14 for the Common Pleas Court, General Division."
Both parties seemed to have acquiesced in the use of an anonymous jury without raising any questions at trial about the practice. Appellee's attorney did not object to an anonymous jury, and there is no indication in the record that the attorney sought to obtain the names or addresses of the jurors. The state also did not object to the anonymous jury, and there is no indication in the record that the state sought to receive the names or addresses of the jurors. An extensive jury voir dire was conducted by both parties. Throughout the voir dire and the trial, jurors were identified by number rather than by name.
At the commencement of voir dire, the trial court made the following statement to the prospective jurors:
"Ladies and gentlemen, as you've noticed, we have over 40 of you here today. And we will be selecting 14 jurors, 12 jurors and two alternates. Also notice that you are given a number. We used to have names and addresses and phone numbers on our list of jurors that came in. And a year or so ago, the Court decided-the Judges decided that a number of jurors asked to remain anonymous. So we have slowly taken away addresses and phone numbers and now names, and so you have a number. It's not that we want to relate to you impersonally, it's for your anonymity, your privacy, so that people may not call you in any way. And that way-but if anybody-we'll talk about that later. But that's the reason for it. And counsel may refer to you as your number. They may refer to you as sir or ma'am or something like that. Certainly, they would rather be more personal, but with numbers, sometimes it appears to
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