Opinion ID: 1325116
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Exclusion for cause of prospective jurors.

Text: Frye argues that the exclusion of two jurors, David Spivey and Thomas West, for their unequivocal opposition to the death penalty, pursuant to Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 522, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 1776, 20 L.Ed.2d 776 (1968), denied him trial by a jury representing a cross-section of the community. He also advances the argument that exclusion of prospective jurors who hold such firm convictions against the death penalty results in a jury that is prone to convict at the guilt phase. See Grigsby v. Mabry, 758 F.2d 226 (8th Cir.1985), rev'd sub nom., Lockhart v. McCree, ___ U.S. ___, 106 S.Ct. 1758, 90 L.Ed.2d 137 (1986). The Supreme Court recently rejected these arguments, holding that such exclusion does not violate a defendant's Sixth Amendment right to a representative and impartial jury. Lockhart v. McCree, ___ U.S. ___, 106 S.Ct. 1758, 1767, 90 L.Ed.2d 137 (1986); see also Boggs v. Commonwealth, 229 Va. 501, 515, 331 S.E.2d 407, 417 (1985), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 106 S.Ct. 1240, 89 L.Ed.2d 347 (1986); Poyner v. Commonwealth, 229 Va. at 413-14, 329 S.E.2d at 825. Thus, there was no error in the exclusion of these two jurors for cause.