Opinion ID: 792092
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Consistency of the Michigan decisions with federal law

Text: 30 In addition to evaluating the findings of fact made by the Michigan courts, Johnson's habeas petition requires an analysis of the consistency of the Michigan court decisions with existing federal law. The standard governing whether a defendant is entitled to a new trial based on juror responses to voir dire questions is set forth in McDonough Power Equipment, Inc. v. Greenwood, 464 U.S. 548, 104 S.Ct. 845, 78 L.Ed.2d 663 (1984). McDonough held that in order to obtain a new trial on the basis of a juror's inaccurate response, a party must first demonstrate that a juror failed to answer honestly a material question on voir dire, and then further show that a correct response would have provided a valid basis for a challenge for cause. McDonough, 464 U.S. at 556, 104 S.Ct. 845. 31 With regard to McDonough 's first prong, the Michigan courts determined that Juror 457 honestly answered all questions posed during voir dire. Johnson has not demonstrated that Juror 457 deliberately lied or concealed information, and thus has not shown that the state-court decision was contrary to or involved an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law as determined by the Supreme Court. 32 Regarding McDonough 's second prong, a juror is subject to a valid challenge for cause based on actual bias and, in certain limited circumstances, implied bias. See United States v. Torres, 128 F.3d 38, 43, 49 (2d Cir.1997) (discussing actual bias and implied bias standards, and upholding the trial judge's decision to strike a potential juror based on bias inferred from the similarity between the juror's previous structuring of financial transactions and the defendant's conduct that allegedly violated federal money laundering laws). Actual bias is bias in fact and focuses on the record at voir dire. Id. at 43. Johnson does not argue that Juror 457 was actually biased; he instead argues that bias should be implied. 33 The doctrine of presumed or implied, as opposed to actual, bias provides that, in certain `extreme' or `exceptional' cases, courts should employ a conclusive presumption that a juror is biased. United States v. Frost, 125 F.3d 346, 379 (6th Cir.1997) (citations omitted). A finding of implied bias is appropriate only where the relationship between a prospective juror and some aspect of the litigation is such that it is highly unlikely that the average person could remain impartial in his deliberations under the circumstances. Person v. Miller, 854 F.2d 656, 664 (4th Cir.1988) (rejecting a white supremacist group's claim of implied bias on the part of all potential black jurors in a criminal contempt proceeding to enforce an injunction against the operation of a paramilitary organization). Examples given in a concurring opinion by Justice O'Connor illustrate the extreme situations that might result in implied bias. They are that the juror is an actual employee of the prosecuting agency, that the juror is a close relative of one of the participants in the trial or the criminal transaction, or that the juror was a witness or somehow involved in the criminal transaction. Smith v. Phillips, 455 U.S. 209, 222, 102 S.Ct. 940, 71 L.Ed.2d 78 (1982) (O'Connor, J., concurring). 34 Johnson's reliance on the implied-bias doctrine fails for two reasons. First, the implied-bias doctrine may not even be viable after Smith. Courts that have reviewed the Smith decision, including this circuit, have suggested that the majority's treatment of the issue of implied juror bias calls into question the continued vitality of the doctrine. See, e.g., United States v. Herndon, No. 99-5642, 2000 WL 1290378, at  (6th Cir. Sept.6, 2000) (unpublished) (The [ Smith ] majority does not specifically say, one way or the other, whether there are any situations in which they would presume prejudice. Such a remedy, if it still exists, would presumably be limited to the type of extreme situations identified by Justice O'Connor in her . . . concurrence.); Conner v. Polk, 407 F.3d 198, 206 n. 4 (4th Cir.2005) (discussing the Smith majority's failure to adopt the implied-bias rationale and Justice O'Connor's concurring opinion, and concluding that [t]here may be some question as to whether implied bias remains a viable doctrine following the Supreme Court's majority opinion in Smith ). 35 Second, even if we assume that the implied-bias doctrine is still viable, Johnson has failed to show that this is one of the extreme or exceptional cases that merit such a finding. See Frost, 125 F.3d at 379. Juror 457's circumstances are simply not comparable to the examples provided by Justice O'Connor, especially in light of the juror's unqualified statement that she could keep her experiences separate. 36 Nor are the two cases relied upon by Johnson comparable to the circumstances here. One is Dyer v. Calderon, 151 F.3d 970, 979-84 (9th Cir.1998) (en banc), in which the court held that a finding of implied bias was proper where a juror lies materially and repeatedly during voir dire and to the trial judge in chambers. The court stated that the magnitude of [the juror]'s lies and her remarkable display of insouciance — her expressed feeling that only she would decide what matters — fatally undermine our confidence in her ability to fairly decide Dyer's fate. Id. at 984. 37 In the second case cited by Johnson, United States v. Eubanks, 591 F.2d 513, 516 (9th Cir.1979) (per curiam), the defendant was being prosecuted for a conspiracy to distribute heroin and for possession of heroin with the intent to distribute. The juror in question had two sons serving long prison terms for murder and robbery, perpetrated in furtherance of their heroin habit. Id. In the juror-qualification form, the juror lied and said that he had no children. Id. The juror also failed to respond to the trial judge's question about whether the jurors or members of [their] immediate families [had] ever been personally interested in the defense of a criminal case or a witness for the defense in a criminal case. Id. The Ninth Circuit found that the heroin involvement of the juror's sons bar[red] the inference that [the juror] served as an impartial juror, Id. at 517, essentially implying juror bias. 38 Dyer and Eubanks are easily distinguishable from the case before us, however, because the jurors at issue in those cases lied extensively to get on the jury. In Dyer, the court stated that [t]he individual who lies in order to improve his chances of serving has too much of a stake in the matter to be considered indifferent. . . . [T]his excess of zeal introduces the kind of unpredictable factor into the jury room that the doctrine of implied bias is meant to keep out. Dyer, 151 F.3d at 982. 39 Johnson has failed to show that the doctrine of implied bias is applicable to his case. Juror 457's responses were simply not so far off the mark as to show that this is an extreme or exceptional case to which the implied-bias doctrine is meant to apply. See Frost, 125 F.3d at 379; Smith v. Phillips, 455 U.S. at 222, 102 S.Ct. 940 (O'Connor, J., concurring). Consequently, Johnson has not demonstrated that the responses he contends were not forthcoming would have subjected Juror 457 to a valid challenge for cause, and thus has not shown that the state-court decision was contrary to or involved an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law as determined by the Supreme Court. 40