Opinion ID: 1858107
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Death Penalty and Religious Beliefs/Supplemental Assignment of Error 6

Text: In this assignment, defendant argues the trial court erred when it allowed the State to exercise peremptory challenges against prospective jurors Bernardine Duncan Lebrane, William Townsel and James Coday when these jurors expressed their opposition to the death penalty was rooted in their religious beliefs. Defendant argues that since the Equal Protection Clause guarantees peremptory strikes cannot be used to purposefully discriminate on the basis of race or gender, it is logical that exclusion of a juror on the basis of his religious beliefs is likewise unconstitutional. At the outset, we note the defense failed to object to the use of peremptory challenges as to these three prospective jurors. However, as explained earlier, this court has not yet addressed the issue of whether the procedural bar set forth in Taylor should be extended to unobjected-to alleged errors occurring during voir dire. We need not do so now because the trial court did not commit any error with respect to this assignment. In State v. Sanders, 93-0001, p. 20 (La.11/30/94), 648 So.2d 1272, 1288, cert. denied, 517 U.S. 1246, 116 S.Ct. 2504, 135 L.Ed.2d 194 (1996), the same argument was made with respect to jurors who had been dismissed for cause because of their views on the death penalty which happened to have been prompted by their religious beliefs. This court observed: [E]ven if the reluctance to impose the death penalty were religious in nature, this court has adopted the Witherspoon [v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 20 L.Ed.2d 776 (1968) ] ... and Witt standards. This court has on numerous occasions reviewed the disqualification of jurors who stated a religious basis for their inability to impose the death penalty, and has in no instance found a constitutional violation. Certainly the same reasoning applies to the instant case and the State's use of its peremptory challenges. It is irrelevant for purposes of a cause challenge that a prospective juror's views on the death penalty which would substantially impair his ability to be an impartial juror are rooted in his religious beliefs. It is not the prospective juror's religion per se which justifies the challenge for cause but his views on the death penalty, regardless of their source or impetus. Similarly, if the prosecutor believes a person's views on the death penalty, although not strong enough to warrant a challenge for cause, justify the State's use of a peremptory challenge to excuse that juror, it is irrelevant that the prospective juror's views arise out of any religious belief. The record shows these three prospective jurors were not stricken by the State because of their religion but because, inter alia, they indicated a hesitancy with regard to the imposition of the death penalty. This assignment lacks merit.