Opinion ID: 786346
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Challenge for Cause

Text: 97 Crockett urges this court to hold that the district court abused its discretion in failing to excuse a potential juror for cause. Crockett stated a challenge for cause against a juror who had once worked at the London, Ohio Correctional Institution, where Crockett had previously been incarcerated. Crockett indicated that he recognized the man. The district court questioned the potential juror about whether he recognized anyone in the courtroom, but the man denied recognizing anyone. Based on this response, the court denied the challenge for cause. Later, Crockett excused the same juror with his last peremptory strike. 98 Whether or not Crockett's challenge for cause was meritorious, the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Martinez-Salazar, 528 U.S. 304, 120 S.Ct. 774, 145 L.Ed.2d 792 (2000), forecloses Crockett's claim. [A] defendant's exercise of peremptory challenges ... is not denied or impaired when the defendant chooses to use a peremptory challenge to remove a juror who should have been excused for cause. Id. at 317, 120 S.Ct. 774. See also United States v. Quinn, 230 F.3d 862, 865 (6th Cir.2000). Furthermore, Crockett does not complain about the jurors who actually decided the case and thus has failed to establish that he had an insufficient number of peremptory challenges to remove all of the jurors that he wished. Crockett suggests that it was necessary for the district court to have explicitly determined that Crockett would not have used his final peremptory challenge for a noncurative purpose, yet he does not cite any law in support of this proposition.