Opinion ID: 1094554
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Issues VI and VII

Text: Appellant contends that the jury venire should not have been qualified as to their opinions regarding the death penalty and that the exclusion of jurors who are unalterably opposed to the death penalty results in a jury that is biased in favor of the prosecution and, therefore, that he was denied a fair and impartial jury. In the recent case of Lockhart v. McCree, ___ U.S. ___, 106 S.Ct. 1758, 90 L.Ed.2d 137 (1986), the United States Supreme Court held that due process was not violated by death qualifying the jury. This same conclusion has been reached in other cases cited by the Court of Criminal Appeals. The Supreme Court in Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 20 L.Ed.2d 776 (1968), held that a claim that the jury is prosecution prone may be valid but that it must be substantiated by the evidence. Appellant fails to allege, and the record does not disclose, any evidence to support this claim. Several veniremen were challenged for cause after they swore that they could not return any verdict which could result in a death sentence. However, in Witherspoon, supra, the Supreme Court emphasized that its decision did not affect the validity of a sentence in a case where jurors were excluded for cause because they would automatically vote against the imposition of capital punishment without regard to any evidence produced at trial. Therefore, we find that the Court of Criminal Appeals was correct in holding that appellant was not deprived of a fair and impartial jury.