Title: State v. Summers
Citation: 437 P.2d 907, 73 Wash. 2d 244
Docket Number: 39681
State: Washington
Issuer: Washington Supreme Court
Date: February 29, 1968

73 Wn.2d 244 (1968) 437 P.2d 907 THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, Respondent, v. JOHN CARL SUMMERS, Appellant.[*] No. 39681. The Supreme Court of Washington, Department One. February 29, 1968. Ralph Llewellyn Jones, for appellant (appointed counsel for appeal). Arthur R. Eggers and Albert J. Golden, for respondent. *245 EVANS, J.[] The appellant, Summers, appeals from a judgment and sentence based upon the verdict of a jury finding him guilty of attempting to escape from the Washington State Penitentiary while under sentence for a felony. After the parties had announced themselves ready for trial, and prior to voir dire examination of the jury, counsel for appellant moved the court to dismiss all jurors who had served earlier in the same week on a case similar to the present one and had returned a verdict of guilty. This motion was denied. After the jury was selected and sworn, counsel for appellant moved the court to dismiss four jurors then in the jury box who had served in the prior case. The court also denied this motion. The denial of these motions constitutes appellant's first assignment of error. [1] RCW 4.44.180 provides that a challenge for implied bias may be taken for certain enumerated causes "and not otherwise." Having previously served on a similar case is not one of the enumerated causes. The present case involves an attempted escape by the appellant Summers with an inmate named Ostiguy on January 24, 1967. The previous case involved an attempted escape by a defendant named Persinger with an inmate named Moses on March 17, 1967. Other than that both cases involved attempted escapes from the same penitentiary, there is nothing to relate them one to the other. As stated in State v. Van Waters, 36 Wash. 358, 78 Pac. 897 (1904): The same reasoning applies to the facts in the present case. We find no merit to appellant's first assignment of error. Appellant assigns as error the court's instruction No. 16-A, which reads as follows: This instruction is in harmony with RCW 10.52.030, which provides as follows: [2] The record discloses that instruction No. 16-A was added by the court without request by either party during the reading of the instructions to the jury. After the jury retired to deliberate, appellant's counsel objected to instruction No. 16-A, claiming that it unduly questioned the credibility of the two witnesses for the defense defendant Summers and the witness Ostiguy. At that time the court stated that the instruction was given for the benefit of the defendant, but offered to call the jury back and remove it. Defense counsel, being of the opinion that this would merely emphasize the instruction, stated that he did not wish to have it withdrawn. We find no merit to the appellant's contention that he was prejudiced by this instruction. We agree with the trial *247 court that the purpose and effect of instruction No. 16-A is to minimize the damaging effect of properly admitted evidence of prior convictions of a witness by explaining to the jury the limited purpose of that evidence. The judgment is affirmed. FINLEY, C.J., WEAVER, NEILL, and McGOVERN, JJ., concur. [*] Reported in 437 P.2d 907. [] Judge Evans is serving as a judge pro tempore of the Supreme Court pursuant to Art. 4, § 2(a) (amendment 38), state constitution.