Opinion ID: 1351510
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Use of the Struck Jury Method to Pick Jurors

Text: After voir dire of the initial group of 21 prospective jurors was completed, but prior to the exercise of the first peremptory challenge, defense counsel objected to the irregular picking of the jury and requested that no more than 12 persons be present in the jury box at any one time, arguing the juror selection procedure employed by the court thus far was not permitted by the Penal Code. The court noted the objection and impliedly overruled it, stating, Well, the Penal Code doesn't specify, Mr. Blum. It allows for a little creative judging and that's what we're doing here. Each side then exercised 5 peremptory challenges against the initial 21-person panel, and the court had the clerk pick an additional 10 names at random. After 9 further peremptory challenges were exercised (leaving a jury of 12), another 6 prospective jurors were picked at random. The exercise of additional peremptory challenges left the panel at 11 jurors. The court then stated it would do this one more time, but after a renewed objection by defense counsel was overruled, counsel withdrew his last peremptory challenge, leaving 12 seated jurors. However, the prosecutor then challenged 1 juror and 5 more names were drawn. After 3 more challenges, the prosecutor accepted the jury of 13. The trial court then indicated that if both sides passed on a jury of 13, 1 juror would be eliminated by a random draw. Instead, defense counsel challenged a final juror, leaving 12, and both sides then accepted the jury. (8a) Defendant contends the trial court's decision to have him direct his peremptory challenges against a potential jury of more than 12 persons improperly diluted his right to exercise his peremptory challenges. (9) Former section 1088 (which applies here) stated, in pertinent part, that each party shall be entitled to have the panel full before exercising any peremptory challenge. Although past cases involved the failure to maintain a full complement of 12 jurors when the parties were exercising their peremptory challenges (see, e.g., People v. Scoggins (1869) 37 Cal. 676; People v. Dufur (1917) 34 Cal. App. 644 [168 P. 590] [both cases having been decided before the enactment of the language in former section 1088 requiring a full panel]), the question of whether former section 1088 is violated when more than 12 persons are in the jury box appears to be one of first impression. A recent federal case cogently explains the different methods for exercising peremptory challenges posed here. In the `jury box' system of jury selection, the parties exercise their challenges against jurors already seated in the box, and who will remain on the jury unless challenged. ( United States v. Ricks (4th Cir.1986) 802 F.2d 731, 733.) This is the system utilized in California. However, the `struck jury' method of jury selection [is] where the trial judge tenders to each party a list of qualified veniremen and each side exercises its peremptories against the names on the list. If, after each side exercises its strikes, there remains more than 12 persons on the list, the trial judge must decide which twelve will constitute the jury. ( Ibid., fn. omitted.) The trial judge apparently attempted to employ a variation of the struck jury method in this case. (8b) Defendant argues that strategic use of a peremptory challenge against any 1 prospective juror requires knowledge of the personalities of the remaining 11 jurors in the jury box. In seeking to obtain a balance of personalities on the jury, seasoned counsel's acceptance of 1 juror might be influenced by the presence of another juror or jurors on the panel. Requiring defendant to exercise his challenges against a panel of 21 prospective jurors in theory might have made it more difficult for counsel to evaluate the suitability of any particular juror, since counsel could not be certain who the other 11 jurors would be. Finally, under the struck jury method, if both sides passed on a panel consisting of more than 12 jurors, actual service of any 1 juror would then depend on the further luck of the draw. However, many of these same concerns were faced in the cases involving less than a full panel. For example, in Scoggins, supra, 37 Cal. 676, the trial court had the clerk choose one juror at a time and insisted both sides decide whether that juror was acceptable before moving on to the next one. Describing the procedure then applicable, we noted the trial court should have randomly drawn 12 names and had all 12 jurors sit in the jury box for voir dire and the exercise of peremptory challenges. We observed that [t]he theory of the law probably is that the right to challenge peremptorily cannot be exercised so judiciously until the panel is filled with competent and qualified jurors, of whom each party is allowed to reject a certain number without assigning any reason therefor. ( Id. at p. 680, italics added.) We thus recognized early on that the composition of the entire panel can be relevant to the exercise of a peremptory challenge against any one juror. In In re Mendes (1979) 23 Cal.3d 847 [153 Cal. Rptr. 831, 592 P.2d 318], 12 jurors were chosen, but before the alternate could be selected, 1 of the 12 was discharged due to a death in the family. The defendants challenged the trial court's decision to reopen jury selection and permit the exercise of any unused peremptory challenges against the remaining 11 jurors. In affirming the judgment in that case, we observed that there was a valid reason for the court to allow peremptory challenges [against the 11 jurors already chosen:] so that both sides could satisfy themselves to the best of their ability with the final composition of the jury. ( Id. at p. 855.) We quoted, with apparent approval, the trial court's comments in support of its ruling: `There is a possibility that somebody might have in the back of their mind that the new juror wouldn't fit in with the total panel.' ( Ibid. ) It is clear that knowledge of the composition of the entire panel can be relevant to the informed exercise of a peremptory challenge against a particular juror. (But see United States v. Blouin (2d Cir.1981) 666 F.2d 796, 798-799 [suggesting that the struck jury system may be more advantageous from a strategic point of view].) However, the fact that the procedure utilized here may have stood to make the exercise of the initial peremptory challenges less informed, does not in itself require reversal. This is not a case where the defendant was prohibited from exercising all of his allotted peremptory challenges, which error would require reversal. (See People v. Armendariz (1984) 37 Cal.3d 573, 584 [209 Cal. Rptr. 664, 693 P.2d 243].) Although the jury selection procedure utilized here may have carried the potential for prejudice, we are not persuaded that such potential was realized here. The initial panel of 21 prospective jurors was pared down to the final 12 actual jurors via the challenge process, under procedures equally applicable to both sides. As the voir dire session drew to a close, both defense counsel and the prosecutor knew which 12 jurors would in probability comprise the petit jury. Although defendant hypothesizes that under the trial court's chosen procedure a defendant might logically be forced to exercise all of his peremptory challenges against a group of 50 or 100 or 5000 panelists, that simply did not occur here. We caution that adherence to the Legislature's statutorily prescribed jury selection procedures remains the proper and authorized way to ensure selection of a fair and impartial jury. Although the jury selection method utilized here departed from the statutory procedures then in effect, it did not unduly prevent defendant from exercising any of his allotted challenges, or otherwise fundamentally flaw the selection or final composition of defendant's petit jury. Under such circumstances, it is settled that relief will not be granted on appeal absent a showing of prejudice. ( People v. Mitchell (1964) 61 Cal.2d 353 [38 Cal. Rptr. 726, 392 P.2d 526]; People v. Hoyt (1942) 20 Cal.2d 306 [125 P.2d 29]; People v. Saugstad (1962) 203 Cal. App.2d 536 [21 Cal. Rptr. 740].) Although requiring defendant to exercise his peremptory challenges against a panel of more than 12 prospective jurors at any given time technically ran afoul of the statutorily prescribed jury selection procedure, prejudice warranting reversal has not been demonstrated.