Opinion ID: 2429686
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: racial inquiry to venire

Text: Franklin argues that this is a capital murder case with a black defendant and white victims. Because this was a racially sensitive case, the circuit court, according to the appellant, was required to inquire into racial bias on the part of the venire. He cites the Supreme Court case of Turner v. Murray, 476 U.S. 28, 106 S.Ct. 1683, 90 L.Ed.2d 27 (1986) in support of this proposition. In Turner , a black defendant received the death penalty in a Virginia state court for the murder of a jewelry store proprietor who was white. Defense counsel at trial submitted a list of proposed questions to the trial judge including a question about racial prejudice. The judge refused to ask the question relating to racial bias. The Virginia Supreme Court affirmed, and subsequently a Federal District Court in Virginia denied the defendant habeas corpus relief and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed. The United States Supreme Court reversed on the basis that a violent crime between the races was involved, and the defendant was charged with a capital crime. Because the jury was required to consider a capital sentence in a case involving race, questioning the venire on racial prejudice was constitutionally required upon request. In a dissent in Turner , Justice Powell pointed out that Virginia law vested the trial judge with responsibility to conduct voir dire of prospective jurors. In this case, the trial judge permitted counsel to propose questions but denied an inquiry into racial prejudice. Those facts distinguish Turner from the case before us. In Arkansas, counsel are permitted to conduct voir dire examination of jurors and in this matter, though the circuit court refused to inquire into racial bias, it permitted counsel for Franklin to do so and he did. Franklin's defense counsel posed questions to at least two prospective jurors about friendships with persons of another race, whether they believed that young blacks routinely engaged in criminal activity, whether young blacks intimidated members of the venire, whether race would be a factor in assessing punishment and so forth. In light of this, though the circuit court did not conduct the probe, we observe no violation of the constitutional protection afforded in Turner v. Murray, supra . Franklin also contends on this point that his questioning was stifled by the circuit court. Though the court did urge defense counsel to move along with the questioning, the record does not bear out this assertion. In addition, Franklin lodged no objection to any perceived curtailment of his right to inquire, and the matter is not preserved for our review. Barnes v. State, 294 Ark. 369, 742 S.W.2d 925 (1988).