Opinion ID: 1324457
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Jurors Challenged Because Of Views Concerning Capital Punishment

Text: The record discloses no error in the rulings of the trial judge upon challenges for cause by the State to prospective jurors as the result of their stated views on the subject of capital punishment. Prior to the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 20 L.Ed.2d 776, it was well established that, under the law of this State, it was not error to allow challenges for cause by the State to prospective jurors who stated they had conscientious scruples against the infliction of the death penalty in a case where such penalty might be inflicted pursuant to a verdict of guilty. State v. Spence (first hearing), 271 N.C. 23, 155 S.E.2d 802; State v. Bumpers (first hearing), 270 N.C. 521, 155 S.E.2d 173; State v. Childs, 269 N.C. 307, 152 S.E.2d 453. See also State v. Peele, 274 N.C. 106, 161 S.E.2d 568. In State v. Vick, 132 N.C. 995, 43 S.E. 626, the Court quoted with approval the following statement in 17 A. and E.Enc. 1134: Though no such ground of challenge is to be found stated in the English cases, in the United States, since the early part of the Nineteenth Century, the fact that one has conscientious scruples against the infliction of capital punishment has been regarded as disqualification furnishing ground for challenge by the prosecution on a trial for offenses which may be punished by death. The law of this State, as distinguished from the Constitution of the United States, has not been changed in this respect since those decisions were rendered. The Constitution of the United States, as interpreted by the Supreme Court of the United States in the Witherspoon case, supra, is, of course, controlling insofar as it conflicts with the law of this State and we so recognized in State v. Spence, (hearing on remand), 274 N.C. 536, 164 S.E.2d 593. There we allowed a new trial because the record contained a stipulation that 79 of 150 veniremen were successfully challenged for cause because of their stated opposition to capital punishment, this being contrary to the Witherspoon decision. The question now before us is whether the Constitution of the United States, as interpreted in the Witherspoon case, is violated by the allowance of the State's challenges for cause shown in the present record. The majority opinion in the Witherspoon case sharply defines the line drawn by that decision by both positive and negative statements. The Court affirmatively stated its holding as follows: Specifically, we hold that a sentence of death cannot be carried out if the jury that imposed or recommended it was chosen by excluding veniremen for cause simply because they voiced general objections to the death penalty or expressed conscientious or religious scruples against its infliction. (Emphasis added.) Speaking negatively, the Court said: The issue before us is a narrow one. It does not involve the right of the prosecution to challenge for cause those prospective jurors who state that their reservations about capital punishment would prevent them from making an impartial decision as to the defendant's guilt. Nor does it involve the State's assertion of a right to exclude from the jury in a capital case those who say that they could never vote to impose the death penalty or that they would refuse even to consider its imposition in the case before them. For the State of Illinois did not stop there, but authorized the prosecution to exclude as well all who said they were opposed to capital punishment and all who indicated that they had conscientious scruples against inflicting it. (Emphasis added.) Again, in Footnote 21, the Court said: We repeat, however, that nothing we say today bears upon the power of a State to execute a defendant sentenced to death by a jury from which the only veniremen who were in fact excluded for cause were those who made unmistakably clear (1) that they would automatically vote against the imposition of capital punishment without regard to any evidence that might be developed at the trial of the case before them, or (2) that their attitude toward the death penalty would prevent them from making an impartial decision as to the defendant's guilt. Prospective juror Corum stated specifically that his feeling against capital punishment was so strong that in no event could he ever bring out a verdict of guilty if he knew the penalty would be death. Prospective juror Thompson stated that even if the evidence should convince him beyond a reasonable doubt of the guilt of the defendant he would have moral or religious scruples against bringing in a verdict of guilty in this particular case if he knew that the death penalty would be invoked. Prospective juror Best stated that even though, after hearing all of the evidence, he was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty he would have religious or moral scruples which would prevent him from bringing out a verdict of `guilty' if he knew the sentence would be death. It is true that, at the time of the trial of this defendant in the superior court, G.S. § 14-17 provided that the punishment for murder in the first degree would be imprisonment for life if, at the time of rendering its verdict in open court, the jury should so recommend, and, under the decisions of this Court, it was the duty of the trial judge in a capital case to instruct the jury that it might, in its unbridled discretion, render its verdict of guilty with such recommendation, which would then be binding upon the court in the matter of sentence. State v. Carter, 243 N.C. 106, 89 S.E.2d 789; State v. McMillan, 233 N.C. 630, 65 S.E.2d 212. The jury actually selected to try the defendant in the present case was so instructed. Since the verdict of a jury must be unanimous, it necessarily follows that if only one juror had refused to consent to a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree without a recommendation that the punishment be imprisonment for life, the death sentence could not be imposed upon the defendant. Consequently, prospective jurors Corum, Thompson and Best could each have served upon the jury in the present case and rendered a verdict of guilty without violating his stated moral or religious scruples against the death penalty. It does not follow, however, that the sustaining of the State's challenges to these prospective jurors violated the rule of the Witherspoon case, supra. It is perfectly clear from their answers in the record, upon voir dire examination, that each of these prospective jurors, before hearing any of the evidence, had already made up his mind that he would not return a verdict pursuant to which the defendant might lawfully be executed, whatever the evidence might be. In the language of the majority opinion in the Witherspoon case, these jurors made it clear that they could never vote to impose the death penalty and they would refuse even to consider its imposition in the case before them, and they would automatically vote against the imposition of capital punishment without regard to any evidence that might be developed at the trial of the case before them The State, as well as the defendant, is entitled to a jury which will give it a fair and impartial verdict upon every issue properly presented by the evidence, including the question of whether, upon the evidence, the defendant, believed by them beyond any reasonable doubt to be guilty of first degree murder, should be executed or should be imprisoned for life. The decision in Witherspoon v. Illinois, supra, does not deprive the State of this right. Irving v. Breazeale, 400 F.2d 231, 236; Williams v. Dutton, 400 F.2d 797, 805; United States v. Valentine, 288 F.Supp. 957, 966; State v. Mathis, 52 N.J. 238, 245 A.2d 20, 23, 26; State v. Smith (Wash.), 446 P.2d 571. As the Supreme Court of the United States said in Swain v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 202, 85 S.Ct. 824, 13 L.Ed.2d 759: The function of the challenge is not only to eliminate extremes of partiality on both sides, but to assure the parties that the jurors before whom they try the case will decide on the basis of the evidence before them, and not otherwise.    Although historically the incidence of the prosecutor's challenge has differed from that of the accused, the view in this country has been that the system should guarantee `not only freedom from any bias against the accused, but also from any prejudice against his prosecution. Between him and the state the scales are to be evenly held.' Hayes v. State of Missouri, 120 U.S. 68, 70, 7 S. Ct. 350, 351, 30 L.Ed. 578. Following the recital of the voir dire examinations of the above prospective jurors and the rulings of the court sustaining the challenges of the State to them, the record contains the following statement: There were 50 prospective jurors called to the stand before a jury was seated in this case and every juror called to the stand was asked the similar questions as set out above concerning capital punishment. There is nothing in this statement to show any error entitling the defendant to a new trial. It shows only that 36 prospective jurors were excused, 14, including two alternate jurors, having been selected. The record does not show how many of the 36 were challenged by the defendant or how many were challenged by the State or how many were challenged by either party peremptorily. Of those challenged successfully for cause, with the exception of the three named above, the record does not show that the challenge was based upon the answer of a single prospective juror to any question with reference to capital punishment. Indeed, the record does not show the answer of any juror to any question upon this subject other than the three prospective jurors above mentioned. The statement that the similar questions as set out above concerning capital punishment were asked each juror discloses no error, first because it does not show sufficiently the content of any question since those asked the prospective jurors Corum, Thompson and Best were not identical, and second because there was certainly no error in allowing any question identical to that propounded to any one of those three prospective jurors. Even if a prospective juror's answer to such a question were not sufficient to support a challenge for cause, it would certainly be proper to ask the question in order to permit the intelligent use of the peremptory challenges allowed by law to the State. See Swain v. Alabama, supra. We, therefore, conclude that there is nothing in this record indicating any merit in the contention of the defendant that he has been denied any right under the Constitution of the United States, or under the law of this State, in the sustaining of any challenge for cause by the State by reason of the prospective juror's statement of his views on the subject of capital punishment.