Opinion ID: 1215480
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Application of the Witherspoon-Witt Standard

Text: The voir dire relating to the four jurors in question can be summarized as follows. The first prospective juror, Ms. Ng, initially indicated that she had a conscientious objection to the death penalty and would therefore vote for a verdict of less than murder in the first degree, to stop the trial from going further. Her answers to further questions from the court indicated no bias as to penalty. In examination by defense counsel, Ng stated that she would vote for the death penalty if it were shown that a defendant deliberately as opposed to emotionally acted in raping and murdering someone. In response to questions from the prosecutor, Ng then said she would listen to all evidence, and would be guided by the court in determining the appropriate penalty. Under questioning by the defense, she again seemed to take the position that she would automatically vote for the death penalty where someone intentionally murdered another. Defense counsel challenged Ng for cause, based on the fact that she is an automatic-death-penalty person in this situation. The court denied the challenge, stating that it was far from clear that Ng would automatically vote for the death penalty. Ms. Shorter was another prospective juror giving widely conflicting answers to questions exploring her ability to vote for the death penalty. Shorter first indicated she would not automatically vote for either penalty. She then indicated that for certain crimes, including premeditated murder, she felt that the appropriate penalty was death. Her answers changed again, however, and she stated that she had some hesitancy about the death penalty even where a murder was involved. Finally, she stated that she would vote for the death penalty for someone convicted of child molestation. [8] The court denied a challenge for cause. Mr. Low's answers to the court's initial voir dire indicated no prejudice as to the appropriate penalty. His answers to further questioning indicated that he would vote for death if premeditated murder was involved; then his responses indicated that even in that circumstance it would depend on the case; his responses to further questioning made it clear, however, that so long as the circumstances indicated that the murder was premeditated, he would automatically vote for the death penalty. A challenge for cause was denied. The last of the four jurors challenged was Ms. Hastings, who was called as a prospective alternate juror. [9] Her first responses indicated she would not favor one penalty over another. She then stated she would most likely vote for death if a defendant was guilty of rape, sodomy and murder, but that her decision would depend on the evidence. Further questioning elicited the response that in such a case, she would probably vote for death. She could not think of any mitigating factors which would convince her not to vote for the death penalty in such a case. In People v. Ghent, supra, 43 Cal.3d at page 768, we held that: [W]here equivocal or conflicting responses are elicited regarding a prospective juror's ability to impose the death penalty, the trial court's determination as to his true state of mind is binding on an appellate court. [Citations.] We went on in Ghent to find no error where four prospective jurors were excused even though they gave equivocal answers which, if taken in isolation from the remainder of their voir dire examination, might be held insufficient to justify their exclusion under then applicable Witherspoon principles. [Citations.] ( Ibid. ) We further noted: But at some point during the examination of these venirepersons, each of them demonstrated an inflexible inability to impose death. ( Ibid. ) (1b) The issue is therefore whether there are equivocal or conflicting responses to the voir dire questioning such that the determination as to the prospective jurors' state of mind should be left to the trial court. (3) (See fn. 10.) In Ghent, supra, 43 Cal.3d 739, the questioning of the prospective jurors led to equivocal answers; there was also clearly support for the court's ruling, because at some point the prospective juror had demonstrated an inflexible inability to impose death. [10] In the case of prospective jurors Ng, Shorter and Hastings, it is clear that their varying answers depended on how questions were phrased, and in some cases, the same question was answered differently depending on whether it was asked by defense counsel or the prosecutor. (1c) The court's determination as to these prospective jurors' state of mind is therefore binding on this court and we must conclude the court's failure to exclude these prospective jurors for cause was not error. The voir dire as to Low was different, however. Low's initial responses to the court's standard questions were innocuous, but those responses were clarified on examination by defense counsel and resulted in Low's unequivocal statement that he would always vote for the death penalty in a case of premeditated murder. [11] Neither the court nor the prosecutor asked any question of Low at the conclusion of defense counsel's inquiry. The uncertainty and inconsistency present with the other three prospective jurors was not present with respect to Low. He firmly stated a point of view, he made no conflicting statements, and the prosecutor did not in any way rehabilitate his answers. Nor did the court, in denying the challenge for cause, indicate what led to its decision. [12] In these circumstances, we cannot accept the court's denial of the challenge for cause, and conclude the court erroneously denied the challenge for cause.