Opinion ID: 395139
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Right to a Jury Chosen from a Fair Cross-Section of the Community

Text: 27 Smith also argues that the exclusion for cause of veniremen opposed to the death penalty infringed his right under the sixth and fourteenth amendments to a jury which is representative of the community. Taylor v. Louisiana, 419 U.S. 522, 538, 95 S.Ct. 692, 701, 42 L.Ed.2d 690 (1975), clearly establishes that the venires from which juries are drawn must not systematically exclude distinctive groups in the community and thereby fail to be reasonably representative thereof. In reliance on Taylor, Smith urges that death-opposed jurors comprise a distinctive group whose systematic exclusion violates the sixth amendment. Although the fair cross-section requirement does not mean that the jury actually chosen must mirror the community and reflect the various distinctive groups in the population, id., 25 the Supreme Court's opinions concerning the jury trial guarantee do intimate that this sixth amendment right comprehends a fair possibility for obtaining a jury which is representative of the community. See Peters v. Kiff, 407 U.S. 493, 500, 92 S.Ct. 2163, 2167, 33 L.Ed.2d 83 (1972); Williams v. Florida, 399 U.S. 78, 100, 90 S.Ct. 1893, 1905, 26 L.Ed.2d 466 (1970). The exclusion of veniremen unalterably opposed to the death penalty undoubtedly reduces the possibility of obtaining a jury which represents a true cross-section of the community. Any elimination of prospective jurors who are disqualified potentially impairs the achievement of a true cross-section on the particular jury. Nevertheless it must be remembered that a jury which reflects a fair cross-section of the community is a goal that is never to be achieved at the cost of leaving on the jury those veniremen who are legitimately disqualified. As the Supreme Court has observed, The fair cross section principle must have much leeway in application. The States remain free to prescribe relevant qualifications for their jurors and to provide reasonable exemptions so long as it may be fairly said that the jury list or panels are representative of the community. 419 U.S. at 537-38, 95 S.Ct. at 701. 28 One would not suppose, for example, that defendant Jones who was on trial for murder in Jones County, 85% of which is populated by members of the Jones family, is entitled to a jury on which members of the Jones family serve, even though a jury from which Jones family members are excluded would not reflect a fair cross-section of the community. Thus, relationship to the defendant is a legitimate disqualification even though, in our hypothetical, such exclusion negates any possibility of obtaining a jury which is representative of the particular community. Likewise, unalterable opposition to capital punishment is a legitimate disqualification even though it reduces the possibility of achieving a true cross-section on the particular jury. As stated by the Supreme Court, even if the defendant establishes a prima facie violation of the fair cross-section requirement, 26 the state may justify the infringement by proof of a significant State interest (which is) manifestly and primarily advanced by those aspects of the jury-selection process, such as exemption criteria, that result in the disproportionate exclusion of the distinctive group. Duren v. Missouri, 439 U.S. 357, 367-68, 99 S.Ct. 664, 670, 58 L.Ed.2d 579 (1979) (footnote omitted). (T)he parties' right under the sixth and fourteenth amendments to an impartial jury and the state's interest in the just and evenhanded application of its laws supply the necessary justification. Spinkellink v. Wainwright, 578 F.2d 582, 597 (5th Cir. 1978). For these reasons, we hold that unalterable opposition to the death penalty is a legitimate disqualification and that the exclusion of such disqualified jurors does not violate the fair cross-section principle of the sixth amendment. The fair cross-section must, in the end, be fair. Neither the state nor the defendant is entitled to an unfair juror whose interests, biases or prejudices will determine his or her resolution of the issues regardless of the law and regardless of the facts. A cross-section of the fair and impartial is more desirable than a fair cross-section of the prejudiced and biased.