Opinion ID: 795103
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Improper Exclusion of Juror Under Witherspoon and Witt is Presumed Prejudicial

Text: 127 A juror may not be excluded under Witherspoon unless the juror's views on the death penalty prevent or substantially impair the performance of his duty as juror in accordance with instructions and oath. Witt, 469 U.S. at 424, 105 S.Ct. 844; Adams v. Texas, 448 U.S. 38, 45, 100 S.Ct. 2521, 65 L.Ed.2d 581 (1980). A juror's mere reservations or scruples regarding the death penalty are not a valid ground upon which a trial court may exclude a juror. Id. Where a trial court improperly excludes a juror under Witherspoon for the juror's mere reservations or scruples, the trial court's error is presumed prejudicial and the death sentence must be reversed. Gray, 481 U.S. at 667-668, 107 S.Ct. 2045. The improper exclusion of even one qualified juror under Witherspoon-Witt may result in a jury more likely than the average jury to impose death, thus rendering the jury partial. Id. As the Supreme Court explained in Gray, 128 Because the Witherspoon-Witt standard is rooted in the constitutional right to an impartial jury and because the impartiality of an adjudicator goes to the very integrity of the legal system, the Chapman harmless-error analysis cannot apply. We have recognized that some constitutional rights are so basic to a fair trial that their infraction can never be treated as harmless error. The right to an impartial adjudicator, be it judge or jury, is such a right. As stated in Witherspoon, a capital defendant's constitutional right not to be sentenced by a tribunal organized to return a verdict of death surely equates with a criminal defendant's right not to have his culpability determined by a tribunal organized to convict. 129 Id. (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). 130