Opinion ID: 275377
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Impartial Tribunal

Text: 9 On this appeal appellant urges for the first time that he was prejudiced by the presence on the convicting panel of seven jurors who had sat on one prior narcotics trial and two others who previously had heard two cases in which the chief government witness, Agent Valentine, had testified, and in which the Government had obtained convictions. 10 The jury was drawn and impaneled on Thursday, April 7th. Voir dire questions to the jury panel were propounded by the trial court. Counsel for appellant was invited by the court to ask additional questions but declined to do so. He exercised only one of the ten peremptory challenges allowed to appellant. He made no challenges for cause and did not challenge the array. 11 It does not appear whether appellant's counsel was aware of the prior jury service of these nine jurors when the jury was selected on April 7, but from the situation as it is pictured to us on appeal it is certain that both appellant and his counsel should have been aware of it prior to April 12, the day on which the trial itself began. Nevertheless, though having had five days in which to acquaint themselves with the previous jury activities of these jurors chosen on April 7, neither appellant nor appellant's counsel on April 12 made any objection to the composition of the jury at that time. They did not attempt to challenge the jury or any of the individual jurors and there was no motion made for a mistrial. So far as appears, the trial court during the course of the trial was never informed of any claim that the jury might not be an impartial one. 12 Failure to object to the composition of the jury has long been held to result in a waiver of the right of the accused to be heard by an impartial jury. United States ex rel. Marshall v. Snyder, 160 F.2d 351, 353 (2 Cir. 1947); Graham v. United States, 257 F.2d 724, 729 (6 Cir. 1958); Harbold v. United States, 255 F.2d 202, 205 (10 Cir. 1958); Fabian v. United States,358 F.2d 187, 191 (8 Cir. 1966). 13 As the burden of proving prejudice rests with the challenger, Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 723, 81 S.Ct. 1639, 6 L.Ed.2d 751 (1961), quoting from Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145, 157, 25 L.Ed. 244 (1878), Beck v. Washington, 369 U.S. 541, 558, 82 S.Ct. 955, 8 L.Ed.2d 98 (1962), the purpose of requiring that the fitness of a juror be challenged at the inception of trial is to permit an inquiry into his impartiality at a time when he can be replaced if shown to be biased. Were the rule otherwise, a defendant could, as appellant seeks to do herein, fail timely to exercise his challenges and, after verdict, claim prejudice on appeal if the verdict displeases him. In the instant case, for example, all nine jurors appellant now suggests may well have been partial could have been removed from the panel by the exercise of the nine unused peremptory challenges. To give an accused a second trial each time he doubts, after an unfavorable verdict, the objectivity of jurors, would seriously impede the processes of justice. 14 In view of our conclusion that appellant waived his right to challenge the jury be failing to make proper objections at trial, we need not decide, and we are not required to express an opinion, as to whether, if the point had been preserved by proper objection below, the previous participation of jurors in similar cases involving identical witnesses, but dealing with different transactions and different defendants, would bar the jurors from sitting on a subsequent case. 2 15 Appellant's claim of partiality due to excessive publicity must also fail. Unlike Marshall v. United States, 360 U.S. 310, 79 S.Ct. 1171, 3 L.Ed.2d 1250 (1959), Rideau v. State of Louisiana, 373 U.S. 723, 83 S.Ct. 1417, 10 L.Ed.2d 663 (1963), and Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 333, 86 S.Ct. 1507, 16 L.Ed.2d 600 (1966), the present record in barren of any indication that the jurors were even exposed to such an improper influence, much less that any of them were prejudiced by an exposure. See Finnegan v. United States,204 F.2d 105, 110 (8 Cir.), cert. denied, 346 U.S. 821, 74 S.Ct. 36, 98 L.Ed. 347 (1953). Moreover, as undue influence resulting from excessive pre-trial publicity is a sufficient basis for challenging a juror for cause, Rizzo v. United States, 304 F.2d 810, 816 (8 Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Nafie v. United States, 371 U.S. 890, 83 S.Ct. 188, 9 L.Ed.2d 123 (1962), appellant's failure to question prospective jurors on their voir dire as to this and to challenge for cause disposed of this claim at that time.