Opinion ID: 1215480
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Erroneous Ruling on the Challenge for Cause

Text: In the instant case the foregoing error resulted in the erroneous, temporary inclusion of a juror. The sole result of the failure to exclude venireperson Low for cause was that defendant had to use one of his remaining peremptory challenges to excuse Low. Even after using this peremptory challenge, however, defendant had two challenges left. After the exercise of 24 peremptory challenges, the defense indicated that it was satisfied with the jury. Thus, the present case is distinguishable from the situation presented in Gray v. Mississippi, supra, 481 U.S. 648 [95 L.Ed.2d 622, 107 S.Ct. 2045], involving the wrongful exclusion of a prospective juror, where the error was deemed prejudicial per se. In Gray, the prosecutor could only assert in hindsight that he would have used his challenges to exclude a venireman. Here, on the other hand, we know exactly how defendant exercised his peremptory challenges, and we also know that, as the result of that exercise, defendant was not tried by a jury which included a juror to whom he properly had objected. In addition, we know that the erroneous inclusion of a prospective juror was an isolated incident. Most importantly, the error here did not result in a jury particularly apt to impose the death penalty, and there is no indication that the jury before which defendant was tried was anything other than fair and impartial. (4), (1d) We conclude that these facts distinguish the present case from the situation considered in Gray, and that an erroneous ruling on a challenge for cause which results in the inclusion of a prospective juror is subject to a harmless-error analysis. ( Chapman v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 18, 23 [17 L.Ed.2d 705, 710, 87 S.Ct. 824, 24 A.L.R.3d 1065].) Here, the erroneous ruling on the challenge for cause resulted merely in the temporary inclusion of a veniremen. He was not a regular or alternate member of the jury eventually impaneled, and there is no indication that the bias for which he should have been excluded infected any other member of the venire who later sat on the jury. [13] It might be suggested, however, that the erroneous denial of the challenge for cause was not harmless because the effect of that ruling was that defendant was forced to use one of his peremptory challenges to remove the prospective juror. Such an argument was recently rejected by the United States Supreme Court in Ross v. Oklahoma, supra, 487 U.S. ___ [101 L.Ed.2d 80, 108 S.Ct. 2273], involving similar facts. In Ross, as in the present case, the defendant was forced to use one of his peremptory challenges to remove a juror who should have been removed for cause. (As here, the juror had indicated he would automatically vote for death if the defendant were found guilty.) The defense ultimately used all of its peremptory challenges. Ross distinguished Gray, supra, on the basis that unlike Gray, In the instant case there is no need to speculate whether [the excluded juror] would have been removed absent the erroneous ruling by the trial court; [the juror] was in fact removed and did not sit. (487 U.S. at p. ___ [101 L.Ed.2d at p. 90].) The court rejected the argument that the loss of a peremptory challenge constituted a violation of the constitutional right to an impartial jury, stating So long as the jury that sits is impartial, the fact that the defendant had to use a peremptory challenge to achieve that result does not mean the Sixth Amendment was violated. ( Ibid. ) As for the defendant's due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment, the Ross court ruled that although the right to exercise peremptory challenges is an important one, it is for the State to determine the number of peremptory challenges allowed and to define their purpose and the manner of their exercise. [Citations.] As such, the `right' to peremptory challenges is `denied or impaired' only if the defendant does not receive that which state law provides. (487 U.S. at p. ___ [101 L.Ed.2d at pp. 90-91].) According to Ross, under Oklahoma law a defendant who disagrees with a trial court's ruling on a challenge for cause must exercise a peremptory challenge to remove the juror, and the error is ground for reversal only if the defendant exhausts his peremptory challenges and an incompetent juror is forced on him. ( Ibid. ) As required by Oklahoma law, petitioner exercised one of his peremptory challenges to rectify the trial court's error, and consequently he retained only eight peremptory challenges to use in his unfettered discretion. But he received all that Oklahoma law allowed him, and therefore his due process challenge fails. (487 U.S. at p. ___ [101 L.Ed.2d at pp. 91-92], fn. omitted.) In a footnote, the high court left open the question whether the same result would follow in the absence of Oklahoma's limitation on the `right' to exercise peremptory challenges.... (487 U.S. at p. ___, fn. 4 [101 L.Ed.2d at p. 92].) (5) The California courts hold that the defendant must exercise his peremptory challenges to remove prospective jurors who should have been excluded for cause, and that to complain on appeal of the composition of the jury, the defendant must have exhausted those challenges. ( Kimbley v. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals (1985) 164 Cal. App.3d 1166, 1169 [211 Cal. Rptr. 148].) As stated in Kimbley, It has long been the rule in California that exhaustion of peremptory challenges is a `condition precedent' to an appeal based on the composition of the jury. [Citation]. Although our courts have never considered whether an erroneous ruling on a challenge for cause is, in effect, the denial of a peremptory challenge, in other cases involving the denial of peremptory challenges, we have found a potential effect on the selection of the jury only where the defense used all of its available challenges, but remained dissatisfied with the venire. (6) As we explained in People v. Armendariz (1984) 37 Cal.3d 573, 584 [209 Cal. Rptr. 664, 693 P.2d 243], California courts have consistently held that `the failure to grant a defendant the prescribed number of peremptory challenges when the record reflects his desire to excuse a juror before whom he was tried is reversible error.' [Citations.] (Italics added.) (See also People v. Yates (1983) 34 Cal.3d 644, 654 [194 Cal. Rptr. 765, 669 P.2d 1] [reversible error where defendant entitled to 26 challenges and court only permitted 10; after exercising all permitted challenges, counsel stated dissatisfaction with jury and requested additional challenges]; People v. Shaw (1965) 237 Cal. App.2d 606, 611 [47 Cal. Rptr. 96] [reversible error where defendant entitled to 20 peremptory challenges but court only permitted 10; after exercising 10 permitted challenges, defense sought to excuse additional venirepersons and objected to swearing of jury]; People v. Diaz (1951) 105 Cal. App.2d 690 [234 P.2d 300] [reversible error where court erroneously denied defendant two peremptory challenges, defendant used all available challenges, sought to exercise another, and moved for mistrial on the basis he was deprived of his rights with respect to the selection and impaneling of the jury]; cf. People v. Crowe (1973) 8 Cal.3d 815, 831-832 [106 Cal. Rptr. 369, 506 P.2d 193] [no prejudicial error where, after defendant exercised six peremptory challenges, court mistakenly announced defendant had completed his peremptory challenges and swore jury; after recess, court announced its error but counsel declined the court's invitation to exercise additional challenges].) [14] (1e) Here, the defense indicated its satisfaction with the jury after having exercised only 24 of its 26 peremptory challenges. No juror to whom defendant objected was seated on the jury that heard his case, and he did not object to the jury as constituted, even though he had peremptory challenges remaining. [15] In this situation, we cannot find defendant was denied a peremptory challenge in a way which affected his right to a fair and impartial jury. Because there was no possible prejudice to defendant in such circumstances, no reversible error occurred.