Title: Ex Parte Myers

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

699 So. 2d 1285 (1997)
Ex parte Robin MYERS.
(In re Robin D. Myers v. State of Alabama).
1951981.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
May 9, 1997.
Rehearing Denied July 18, 1997.
*1286 Brent A. King, Decatur; and Bernard E. Harcourt, Cambridge, MA, for petitioner.
Bill Pryor, atty. gen., and J. Clayton Crenshaw, asst. atty. gen., for respondent.
HOUSTON, Justice.
Robin Myers was convicted of the capital offense of murder committed during the course of a burglary, Ala.Code 1975, § 13A-5-40(a)(4), and the capital offense of murder during the course of a robbery, § 13A-5-40(a)(2). These convictions were based on one killing. The jury recommended a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole; the trial court rejected this recommendation and sentenced Myers to death by electrocution. In a unanimous decision, the Court of Criminal Appeals on May 24, 1996, affirmed Myers's conviction and death sentence. Myers v. State, 699 So. 2d 1281 (Ala.Crim.App.1996), and it later overruled his application for rehearing. We granted certiorari review pursuant to Rule 39(c), Ala.R.App.P. We affirm.
Although Myers presented 31 issues for us to review, we find it necessary to address only five of those issueswhether the trial court erred in denying Myers's challenges for cause regarding jurors who were biased in favor of police officers; whether the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of felony murder; whether the trial court erred in failing to adequately instruct the jury on the legal principles of intoxication; whether the trial court erred in allowing a state's witness to wrongly comment on Myers's post-Miranda silence; and whether, in light of the Court of Criminal Appeals' holding in Pace v. State, [CR-93-0740, Sept. 27, 1996] ___ So.2d ___ (Ala.Crim.App.1996), the indictment against Myers should be dismissed and the case remanded to the trial court.
According to the pertinent facts as set forth in the Court of Criminal Appeals' opinion, the following occurred:
699 So. 2d  at 1282.
Myers alleges that during voir dire examination Juror C. Smith admitted that he *1287 would give more weight to the testimony of a police officer than to the testimony of other witnesses. Myers challenged Juror C. Smith, based on what Myers contends were his views regarding the testimony of police officers. The trial court denied the challenge for cause.
Myers contends that the trial court erred in denying his challenge of C. Smith for cause. According to Myers, when the trial court failed to strike C. Smith for cause, it violated the principles of Uptain v. State, 534 So. 2d 686 (Ala.Crim.App.1988) (wherein the Court of Criminal Appeals held that jurors who indicate that they would believe a police officer's testimony over that of another witness lack impartiality and should be struck for cause and, quoting State v. Davenport, 445 So. 2d 1190, 1193-94 (La.1984), stated: "`[a] juror ... who will unquestionably credit the testimony of law enforcement officers over that of defense witnesses is not competent to serve'"); Mason v. State, 536 So. 2d 127 (Ala.Crim.App.1988) (which reinforces Uptain); and McCray v. State, 629 So. 2d 729 (Ala.Crim.App.1993) (quoting Uptain with approval). Therefore, he argues, he is entitled to a new trial.
The State argues that Myers's challenge for cause was directed at the wrong venirememberthat the veniremember Smith who responded to the questions regarding the testimony of the police officer was R. Smith (juror number 36), not C. Smith (juror number 33).[1]
In response to the State's argument about which veniremember Smith expressed views about believing the testimony of a police officer over that of one who is not a non-police officer, Myers argues that both defense counsel and the district attorney, who were present at trial and conducted the voir dire, agreed that it was C. Smith (juror number 33), not R. Smith (juror number 36), who commented about a police officer's testimony.
To justify a challenge of a juror for cause, there must be a statutory ground as set forth in Ala.Code 1975, § 12-16-150, or some other matter that discloses absolute bias or favor and leaves nothing to the trial court's discretion. See, Nettles v. State, 435 So. 2d 146, 149 (Ala.Crim.App.), aff'd, 435 So. 2d 151 (Ala. 1983). See also, Clark v. State, 621 So. 2d 309, 321 (Ala.Crim.App.1992). The trial court's ruling on a challenge for cause is accorded great weight and will not be disturbed on appeal unless it is clearly shown to be an abuse of discretion. Nobis v. State, 401 So. 2d 191 (Ala.Crim.App.), cert. denied, 401 So. 2d 204 (Ala.1981).
During the trial court's qualifications of the jury venire, the trial court asked if there was anyone who knew why, if selected as a juror in this case, he could not give both the State and the defendant a fair and impartial trial. The following colloquy occurred:
The veniremembers were questioned in panels consisting of 12 persons. R. Smith and C. Smith were both on the second panel, and neither defense counsel nor the district attorney noted on the record that there were two Smiths on the same panel. When panel two was called, in response to the question whether anyone had ever worked in law enforcement, the following occurred:
(Clearly, R. Smith was the Juror Smith in this instance.) Later during questioning, the following occurred:
Subsequently, a Juror Smith stated that he had had two chain saws stolen from his garage in Michigan. (Presumably, because R. Smith had previously stated that he had lived in Michigan, the Juror Smith whose chain saws were stolen was R. Smith.)
During later questioning, a Juror Smith stated that although he had never testified for the State, he had, "as a reserve officer," served as a "back-up witness." (Presumably, because R. Smith had been a reserve officer, the Juror Smith who had served as a back-up witness was R. Smith.)
Later, a Juror Smith responded again, as follows:
(It is unclear whether R. Smith or C. Smith is the Juror Smith who answered these questions.)
In response to questioning about elderly victims, the following occurred:
After further questioning, defense counsel specifically stated:
(Although only identified as Juror Smith, it is apparent that C. Smith is the one responding, because of the statement "we haven't heard much from you.")
Later in the proceedings, the following occurred:
(Although only identified as Juror Smith, presumably R. Smith is the one responding, because of the way the question was phrasedbecause the question refers to the testimony of a police officer and R. Smith had previously stated that he had been a police officer.)
After the trial court dismissed the second panel, defense counsel made four challenges for cause, one being directed toward C. Smith (Juror number 33):
From a thorough review of the record of the voir dire process, it is apparent that C. Smith seldom answered any questions, and it is apparent from all the circumstances that the Juror Smith who responded to the question about a police officer's testimony was R. Smith, not C. Smith. Nothing in the record shows that a challenge for cause should have *1290 been granted as to C. Smith. The trial court did not err in denying Myers's challenge for cause directed toward C. Smith.
Thus, the question becomes whether the trial court erred in not sua sponte removing R. Smith based on his response to the question about a potential juror's giving the testimony of a police officer more weight than the testimony of one who was not a police officer. Because Myers failed to object at trial to the trial court's failure to remove R. Smith for cause, this issue must be reviewed under the "plain error" rule. Under the plain error rule, this Court will "notice any plain error or defect in the proceeding under review, whether or not brought to the attention of the trial court, and take appropriate appellate action by reason thereof, whenever such error has or probably has adversely affected the substantial rights of the petitioner." Rule 39(k), Ala.R.App.P.; see Ex parte McNair, 653 So. 2d 353 (Ala.1994), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 1159, 115 S. Ct. 1121, 130 L. Ed. 2d 1084 (1995).
R. Smith's response, by itself, to the question whether anyone would believe a police officer over one not a police officer "in a situation where a police officer testified that [it] happened a certain way and a non police officer said it happened another way, with nothing else to guide you," was not a sufficient reason for granting a challenge for cause. R. Smith's response to the question based on that narrow set of circumstances, in light of the entire voir dire questioning, did not indicate an absolute bias toward believing the police officer's testimony regardless of the other evidence presented and the trial court's instructions. In response to the trial court's question of the venire whether "if selected as a juror in this case, he could not give both the State and the defendant a fair and impartial trial"whether he thought that he could "try this case, if [he was] selected to serve on the jury, on the law and the evidence as it [came] to [him] throughout the course of the trial," R. Smith responded, "I would certainly try to stay open-minded, although I have been on the other dwelling on those types of issues. I would try to do that, yes." We find no plain error in the trial court's failure to sua sponte remove R. Smith from the jury for cause.
Myers also maintains that the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury on the felony-murder doctrine. He contends that the evidence in this case is virtually identical to the evidence in Starks v. State, 594 So. 2d 187 (Ala.Crim.App.1991) (in which the Court of Criminal Appeals held that the State presented testimony that supported the theory that the killing occurred during a planned robbery, but that the defendant was entitled to a lesser included offense instruction on felony murder, which required no intent for the killing, because there was no testimony of a planned killing, only of a planned robbery, and no evidence that the defendant had a weapon when he entered the store he intended to rob). According to Myers, the evidence, when considered in the light most favorable to the State, could have convinced the jury that although he had a motive and intended to rob the victim of her VCR in order to obtain drugs, he did not plan to kill heri.e., that he did not have the specific intent to kill her. Therefore, he says, the evidence clearly supported a charge on the lesser included offense of felony murder.
The State maintains that there was no evidence to support a charge on the lesser-included offense of felony murder. Rather, it argues, the evidence showed, among other things, that Myers was allowed into the victim's house under the pretense of wanting to use her telephone; that he stabbed her four times and that the stabbings resulted in her death; and that upon leaving the house, he took a VCR, which he traded for a rock of cocaine. According to the State, Myers's reliance on Starks v. State, supra, for his argument that he was entitled to a jury charge on felony murder is misplaced, because, it says, Starks is factually dissimilar to this case.
A defendant is entitled to a charge on a lesser-included offense if there is a reasonable theory to support such a charge, Ex parte Oliver, 518 So. 2d 705 (Ala.1987), even if the defendant denies committing the crime, Ex parte Pruitt, 457 So. 2d 456 (Ala. 1984), and even if the evidence supporting *1291 the charge is offered by the State, id.; Chavers v. State, 361 So. 2d 1106 (Ala. 1978). See Daniels v. State, 534 So. 2d 628 (Ala.Crim. App.1985), judgment aff'd, Ex parte Daniels, 534 So. 2d 656 (Ala.1986), cert. denied, Daniels v. Alabama, 479 U.S. 1040, 107 S. Ct. 898, 93 L. Ed. 2d 850 (1987). "A charge on a lesser, non-capital offense is required only when there is a basis in the evidence which provides a reasonable theory supportive of the charge. Beck v. State, 396 So. 2d 645 (Ala. 1980)." Godbolt v. State, 429 So. 2d 1131, 1134 (Ala.Crim.App.1982). See Hopper v. Evans, 456 U.S. 605, 102 S. Ct. 2049, 72 L. Ed. 2d 367 (1982); Beck v. Alabama, 447 U.S. 625, 100 S. Ct. 2382, 65 L. Ed. 2d 392 (1980); Chavers v. State, supra; Fulghum v. State, 291 Ala. 71, 277 So. 2d 886 (1973).
In Starks, five men were indicted for capital murder. Only two of the five were tried for capital murder; the other three testified against Starks and his uncle in exchange for being charged with an offense less than capital murder. In Starks, the evidence indicated that the killing was committed during a planned robbery, but there was no testimony of any plan to kill the victim, and one of the co-defendants testified that Starks had no weapon when he entered the store. Starks, supra. Therefore, the Court of Criminal Appeals held that, based on the evidence, Starks was entitled to a jury charge on the lesser-included offense of felony murder because "whether [he] intended to kill the victim during the commission of [the] robbery was a question for the jury." Starks, supra, 594 So. 2d  at 195.
From a thorough review of the record, we conclude that, as the State contends, there was no testimony that Myers had not planned to kill his victim and no testimony that he was not armed with a knife before he entered the victim's house. Rather, although ever since he was arrested Myers has maintained his innocence of the murder and has insisted that he found the VCR and then traded it for drugs, the evidence established that Myers gained entry into the victim's house by deception, that he pretended to use the telephone, that he stabbed and killed his victim, and that he took the victim's VCR to trade for crack cocaine. That evidence could support only a conviction of the capital offense for which Myers was charged in the indictment. We find no evidence to support a theory of felony murder. The trial court did not err in failing to give an instruction on felony murder.
Myers further argues that the trial court failed to adequately instruct the jury on the legal principles of intoxication[2]that it erred by not instructing the jury that while intoxication neither excuses nor palliates a crime, it may negate the element of intent. According to Myers, had the jury been given a proper instruction on intoxication, it could have found that his use of crack negated any specific intent to kill.
The State concedes that the trial court did not expressly instruct on how a defendant's intoxication could prevent the defendant from forming or having a specific intent required as an element of a particular offense, but it maintains that the jury could infer that the instructions on manslaughter and the instructions on voluntary intoxication were related to each other because those two instructions were given together. According to the State, the trial court used the word "recklessly" only when it instructed the jury on manslaughter and voluntary intoxicationthis fact, the State says, created an inference that the instructions were to be applied togetherand, the State says, when the trial court instructed on capital murder it always emphasized that a specific intent to kill was required as an element of that offense.
Although Myers acknowledges the State's concession, he nonetheless points out that this is a death penalty case and argues that it is not the jury's role to infer from the juxtaposition of instructions what the instructions really mean. He argues that it is unreasonable to assume that the jury can infer how instructions relate to one another.
*1292 The jury charge on intoxication was as follows:
After the trial court had instructed the jury, defense counsel objected, as follows:
Following defense counsel's objection, the trial court brought the jury back into the courtroom and gave the following curative instruction:
(Emphasis added.) This curative instruction clearly apprised the jury that it could consider manslaughter if it found that Myers was so intoxicated that he acted recklessly and did not act with the specific intent to kill. Given the language of the curative instruction, we conclude that the instruction on intoxication was complete and adequate.
Myers next argues that the trial court allowed Officer Dwight Hale, a sergeant with the Decatur Police Department and a witness for the State, to comment on Myers's post-Miranda-warning silence. He argues that Officer Hale's testimony was "a direct comment on [Myers's] choice to remain silent after he was advised of his rights and after the interrogating officers explicitly told him that they would not believe anything he said."
Any comment on a defendant's silence after Miranda warnings are given is fundamentally unfair and is repugnant to the principles embodied in the 5th and 14th Amendments. Introducing evidence that the defendant elected to remain silent when confronted with accusations violates the defendant's Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and his Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process. Doyle v. Ohio, 426 U.S. 610, 96 S. Ct. 2240, 49 L. Ed. 2d 91 (1976); Ex parte Harris, 387 So. 2d 868 (Ala. 1980); Ex parte Johnson, 629 So. 2d 619 (Ala.1993). See also Ex parte Marek, 556 So. 2d 375, 382 (Ala.1989), in which the Court, noting that the use of tacit admissions occurring after an individual had been given the Miranda warnings had been abolished in Ex parte Harris, supra, abolished the tacit admission in pre-arrest cases "to the extent that the rule allows the introduction of evidence of an accused's silence when confronted with an accusation."
Doyle, 426 U.S.  at 617-18, 96 S. Ct.  at 2244-45, citing United States v. Hale, 422 U.S. 171, 177, 95 S. Ct. 2133, 2137, 45 L. Ed. 2d 99 (1975). In Ex parte Harris, supra, at 871, this Court held that it was "fundamentally unfair and in violation of due process of law to inform a person under arrest that he has a right to remain silent and then permit an inference of guilt from that silence." See, also Ex parte Brooks, 562 So. 2d 604 (Ala. 1990). "A comment is deemed to be a reference to a defendant's silence if ... the remark was of such a character that the jury would `naturally and necessarily' take it to be a comment on [the] defendant's silence.... The standard is strict; virtually any description of a defendant's silence following arrest and a Miranda warning will constitute a Doyle violation." United States v. Rosenthal, 793 F.2d 1214, 1243 (11th Cir.1986).
Officer Dwight Hale testified that he read Myers his Miranda rights and that he had given Myers a form to read along with him. (Officer Hale then read the form to the jury.) Officer Hale testified that Myers signed the waiver-of-rights form. Officer Hale further testified that Myers always denied *1294 killing the victim but admitted that he had "sold" the VCR. The pertinent portions of Officer's Hale's testimony are as follows:
Myers contends that the above-quoted testimony illustrates a direct accusation by Officer Hale to which Myers chose to remain silent and, therefore, he argues that any reference in that testimony to Myers's not talking or making a statement constituted an improper comment on Myers's exercise of his constitutional right to remain silent.
The State maintains that Officer Hale's testimony indicates that Myers always denied killing the victim and that the last of the above-quoted testimony is a rambling discourse on a theory of what may have occurred and that Myers's silence, after this and after having constantly denied his guilt, did not imply guilt.
Myers testified at trial that the interrogation lasted longer than three and one-half to four hours (as Officer Hale testified); that he became upset during the interview and "may have" cried some; that he asked to call his mother; that when the officers told him that they were accusing him of a crime that could result in his execution, he "was scared and... wanted to call [his] mother"; that after the officers told him there was no use in believing anything he said, he quit saying much of anything. He further testified that he never told the officers he killed the victim; that he did nothing but deny it. He testified that he got very tired after listening to the questions. He faced the victim's daughter and said "I did not kill your mother"; and he faced the jury and said, "I did not kill Mrs. Ludie Mae Tucker." He testified that after the police officers told him they had found some fingerprints, he admitted to them that he had touched the VCR because he had pawned it, but that even after the officers said that they had found fingerprints in the house, he still said he had never been in the house in his life.
In closing argument, the prosecutor did not comment on Myers's silence.
The trial court charged the jury as follows:
From reviewing the record, we conclude that Hale's testimony was not of such a character that the jury would "naturally and necessarily" have taken it to be a comment on Myers's silencethat is, it did not call attention to Myers's silence at the time of his arrest in such a way as to allow the jury to draw an unfavorable inference.
Myers next argues that the Court of Criminal Appeals' holding in Pace v. State, [CR-93-0740, Sept. 27, 1996] ___ So.2d ___ (Ala.Crim.App.1996), establishes, as a matter of law, that the foreperson of the grand jury that indicted him was selected in a racially discriminatory manner, and, therefore, he argues, the indictment entered against him should be dismissed.[3]
This issue was not presented to the trial court or to the Court of Criminal Appeals but was first raised in this Court. Therefore, we must review this issue under the plain error rule.
Ex parte McNair, 653 So. 2d 353, 360 (Ala. 1994), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 1159, 115 S. Ct. 1121, 130 L. Ed. 2d 1084 (1995) (emphasis added in McNair).
The record is silent with respect to the racial composition of the grand jury that returned the indictment against Myers. In effect, by relying on Pace, Myers is requesting that we dismiss the indictment against him based on an intermediate appellate court's nonfinal holding that is now pending before this Court on certiorari review. We decline this request, "for to [accept it] would unduly enlarge the scope of the plain error review as authorized by our appellate rules." Ex parte McNair, supra, at 360; see, also Ex parte Watkins, 509 So. 2d 1074 (Ala.1987). We find nothing on the record that would justify a dismissal of the indictment.[4]*1297
*1298 In addition to addressing the foregoing issues, this Court has reviewed the other issues presented to it; has examined the issues addressed and resolved by the Court of Criminal Appeals; has considered the arguments made before this Court on oral argument; and has thoroughly examined the record for plain error. We find no error, plain or otherwise, either in the guilt phase or in the sentencing phase of Myers's trial that so prejudicially affected his rights as to require a reversal of Myers's conviction and sentence. The judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals affirming Myers's conviction and sentence is therefore affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
HOOPER, C.J., and MADDOX, SHORES, KENNEDY, BUTTS,[*] and SEE, JJ., concur.
COOK, J., concurs in the result.
[1]  Defense counsel used a peremptory strike to remove R. Smith from the jury; C. Smith served on the jury.
[2]  "`The law concerning drug intoxication is the same as for alcohol intoxication. See Commentary, § 13A-3-2, Code of Alabama 1975.'" Fletcher v. State, 621 So. 2d 1010, 1019 n. 3 (Ala.Crim.App.1993) (quoting Hooks v. State, 534 So. 2d 329, 352 (Ala.Crim.App.1987)).
[3]  Myers was indicted for capital murder by a grand jury in Morgan County seven months before Pace was indicted for capital murder in the same county.
[4]  We note the United States Supreme Court cases of Rose v. Mitchell, 443 U.S. 545, 99 S. Ct. 2993, 61 L. Ed. 2d 739 (1979), and Hobby v. United States, 468 U.S. 339, 104 S. Ct. 3093, 82 L. Ed. 2d 260 (1984). In Hobby, the United states Supreme Court discussed alleged discrimination in the selection of a grand jury foreperson and held as follows:

"Invoking the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, [Hobby] argues that discrimination in the selection of grand jury foremen requires the reversal of his conviction and dismissal of the indictment against him. In Peters v. Kiff, 407 U.S. 493 [92 S. Ct. 2163, 33 L. Ed. 2d 83] (1972), the opinion announcing the judgment discussed the due process concerns implicated by racial discrimination in the composition of grand and petit juries as a whole. Emphasizing the defendant's due process right to be fairly tried by a competent and impartial tribunal, see In re Murchison, 349 U.S. 133, 136 [75 S. Ct. 623, 625, 99 L. Ed. 942] (1955), the opinion reasoned that unconstitutionally discriminatory jury selection procedures create the appearance of institutional bias, because they `cast doubt on the integrity of the whole judicial process.' 407 U.S., at 502 [92 S.Ct., at 2168]. Moreover, the opinion perceived an important societal value in assuring diversity of representation on grand and petit juries:
"`When any large and identifiable segment of the community is excluded from jury service, the effect is to remove from the jury room qualities of human nature and varieties of human experience, the range of which is unknown and perhaps unknowable. It is not necessary to assume that the excluded group will consistently vote as a class in order to conclude, as we do, that its exclusion deprives the jury of a perspective on human events that may have unsuspected importance in any case that may be presented.' Id., at 503-504 [92 S.Ct., at 2169] (footnote omitted).
"Discrimination in the selection of grand jury foremenas distinguished from discrimination in the selection of the grand jury itself does not in any sense threaten the interests of the defendant protected by the Due Process Clause. Unlike the grand jury itself, the office of grand jury foreman is not a creature of the Constitution; instead, the post of foreman was originally instituted by statute for the convenience of the court.... Today, authority for the appointment of a grand jury foreman is found in Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(c), which provides [that the responsibilities of the grand jury foreman are essentially clerical in nature.]
"....
"... [T]he impact of a federal grand jury foreman upon the criminal justice system and the rights of persons charged with crime is `minimal and incidental at best.' [United States v. Hobby, 702 F.2d 466, 471 (4th Cir. 1983).] Given the ministerial nature of the position, discrimination in the selection of one person from among the members of a properly constituted grand jury can have little, if indeed any, appreciable effect upon the defendant's due process right to fundamental fairness. Simply stated, the role of the foreman of a federal grand jury is not so significant to the administration of justice that discrimination in the appointment of that office impugns the fundamental fairness of the process itself so as to undermine the integrity of the indictment.
"Nor does discrimination in the appointment of grand jury foremen impair the defendant's due process interest in assuring that the grand jury includes persons with a range of experiences and perspectives. The due process concern that no `large and identifiable segment of the community [be] excluded from jury service,' Peters v. Kiff, 407 U.S., at 503 [92 S.Ct., at 2169], does not arise when the alleged discrimination pertains only to the selection of a foreman from among the members of a properly constituted federal grand jury. That the grand jury in this case was so properly constituted is not questioned. No one person can possibly represent all the `qualities of human nature and varieties of human experience,' ibid., that may be present in a given community. So long as the composition of the federal grand jury as a whole serves the representational due process values expressed in Peters, discrimination in the appointment of one member of the grand jury to serve as its foreman does not conflict with those interests.
"The ministerial role of the office of federal grand jury foreman is not such a vital one that discrimination in the appointment of an individual to that post significantly invades the distinctive interests of the defendant protected by the Due Process Clause. Absent an infringement of the fundamental right to fairness that violates due process, there is no basis upon which to reverse [Hobby's] conviction or dismiss the indictment.
"....
"... Rose [v. Mitchell, 443 U.S. 545, 99 S. Ct. 2993, 61 L. Ed. 2d 739 (1979),] involved a claim brought by two Negro defendants under the Equal Protection Clause. As members of the class allegedly excluded from service as grand jury foremen, the Rose defendants had suffered the injuries of stigmatization and prejudice associated with racial discrimination. The Equal Protection Clause has long been held to provide a mechanism for the vindication of such claims in the context of challenges to grand and petit juries.... [Hobby], however, has alleged only that the exclusion of women and Negroes from the position of grand jury foreman violates his right to fundamental fairness under the Due Process Clause. As we have noted, discrimination in the selection of federal grand jury foremen cannot be said to have a significant impact upon the due process interests of criminal defendants. Thus, the nature of [Hobby's] alleged injury and the constitutional basis of his claim distinguish his circumstances from those of the defendants in Rose.
"Moreover, Rose must be read in light of the method used in Tennessee to select a grand jury and its foreman. Under that system, 12 members of the grand jury were selected at random by the jury commissioners from a list of qualified potential jurors. The foreman, however, was separately appointed by a judge from the general eligible population at large. The foreman then served as `"the thirteenth member of each grand jury organized during his term of office, having equal power and authority in all matters coming before the grand jury with the other members thereof."' Rose v. Mitchell, supra, at 548, n. 2 [99 S. Ct.  at 2996, n. 2] (quoting Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-1506 (Supp.1978)). The foreman selection process in Rose therefore determined not only who would serve as presiding officer, but also who would serve as the 13th voting member of the grand jury. The result of discrimination in foreman selection under the Tennessee system was that 1 of the 13 grand jurors had been selected as a voting member in an impermissible fashion. Under the federal system, by contrast, the foreman is chosen from among the members of the grand jury after they have been empaneled, see Fed. Rule Crim. Proc. 6(c); the federal foreman, unlike the foreman in Rose, cannot be viewed as the surrogate of the judge. So long as the grand jury itself is properly constituted, there is no risk that the appointment of any one of its members as foreman will distort the overall composition of the array or otherwise taint the operation of the judicial process.
"Finally, the role of the Tennessee grand jury foreman differs substantially from that of the foreman in the federal system.... The investigative and administrative powers and responsibilities conferred upon the grand jury foreman in Tennessee, who possessed virtual veto power over the indictment process, stand in sharp contrast to the ministerial powers of the federal counterpart, who performs strictly clerical tasks and whose signature on an indictment is a mere formality. Frisbie v. United States, 157 U.S. 160 [15 S. Ct. 586, 39 L. Ed. 657] (1895); see supra, [468 U.S.] at 344-345 [104 S.Ct. at 3096-97].
"Given the nature of the constitutional injury alleged in Rose, the peculiar manner in which the Tennessee grand jury selection operated, and the authority granted to the one who served as foreman, the Court assumed in Rose that discrimination with regard to the foreman's selection would require the setting aside of a subsequent conviction, `just as if the discrimination proved had tainted the selection of the entire grand jury venire.' Rose v. Mitchell, 443 U.S., at 551-552, n. 4 [99 S.Ct., at 2997-98, n. 4]. No such assumption is appropriate here, however, in the very different context of a due process challenge by a white male to the selection of foremen of federal grand juries."
468 U.S.  at 343-49, 104 S. Ct.  at 3095-98.
Applying the reasoning of the United States Supreme Court in Hobby and recognizing that a review under the plain error rule, which guarantees a defendant a fundamental right to fairness, is tantamount to a due process review, we conclude that, under the facts of this case, assuming discrimination entered into the selection of the grand jury foreperson in Morgan County, that discrimination does not warrant the reversal of the conviction against Myers under the plain error rule. The role of the grand jury foreperson in Morgan County, whose powers were primarily ministerial, Rule 12.5, Ala.R.Crim.P., was "not so significant to the administration of justice that discrimination in the appointment of that office impugn[ed] the fundamental fairness of the process itself so as to undermine the integrity of the indictment" against Myers. 468 U.S.  at 345, 104 S. Ct.  at 3097. Furthermore, so long as the grand jury itself was properly constituted, there was no risk that the appointment of one of its members as foreman distorted "the overall composition of the array or otherwise taint[ed] the operation of the judicial process." 468 U.S.  at 348, 104 S. Ct.  at 3098. In this case, nothing in the record and nothing argued to this Court indicates that the grand jury was not properly constituted.
[*]  Although Justice Butts was not present at oral argument in this case, he listened to the tape of oral argument, on April 1, 1997.