Opinion ID: 1058243
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Comment or Inquiry Regarding Range of Punishment in Voir Dire or Opening Statements and Closing Arguments

Text: Thomas argues that she could not effectively screen jurors for peremptory or for cause challenges without referring to the punishment ranges. However, we unequivocally held in Commonwealth v. Hill, 264 Va. 315, 320, 568 S.E.2d 673, 676 (2002), that neither the defendant nor the Commonwealth in a non-capital criminal prosecution has a constitutional or statutory right to ask the members of a jury panel questions about the range of punishment that may be imposed upon a defendant if he is ultimately convicted of the crimes charged or of lesser included offenses. In a non-capital case, reference to statutory punishment ranges is not relevant to the proper seating of a jury or to any matters at issue in the guilt or innocence stage of a felony proceeding in Virginia. Consequently, the trial did not err in holding that Thomas could not refer to punishment ranges in her voir dire of the jury or in opening statement or closing argument in the guilt or innocence stage of the proceedings.