Opinion ID: 3134745
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Improper Questions Posed to the Venire

Text: In this claim, defendant argues that he was denied a fair death penalty sentencing hearing because the trial court, when questioning the venire, “suggested that a jury would have to be unanimous as to any findings of mitigating factors.” The State correctly argues that this issue is procedurally defaulted because defendant failed to raise this issue on direct appeal. People v. Whitehead , 169 Ill. 2d 355, 371 (1996). It is necessary, however, to consider whether principles of fundamental fairness require that we review the issue. As stated, fundamental fairness is essentially a cause and prejudice test (see People v. Mahaffey , 194 Ill. 2d 154, 173 (2000)), with “cause” defined as “an objective factor that impeded defense counsel’s efforts to raise the claim on direct review” and “prejudice” defined as “an error which so infected the entire trial that the defendant’s conviction violates due process.” People v. Franklin , 167 Ill. 2d 1, 20 (1995). Upon review of the record in this case, we have determined that defendant is unable to satisfy the prejudice prong of the “cause and prejudice” test. Even if some of the questions posed to members of the venire were misleading, as defendant contends, the likelihood that this had an effect on the sentencing jury’s verdict is too remote to require reversal. The purpose of voir dire is not to instruct the jury, “ ‘[t]he purpose of voir dire is to ascertain sufficient information about prospective jurors’ beliefs and opinions so as to allow removal of those members of the venire whose minds are so closed by bias and prejudice that they cannot apply the law as instructed in accordance with their oath.’ ” People v. Strain , 194 Ill. 2d 467, 476 (2000), quoting People v. Cloutier , 156 Ill. 2d 483, 495-96 (1993). Defendant does not contend that the trial court failed to adequately screen the venirepersons for bias. The members of the venire who were selected to sit on the jury were fully and properly instructed on their duties with regard to imposition of the death penalty. Thus, any confusion that might have arisen due to the court’s preliminary inquiries to members of the venire would have been cured when, at the close of the aggravation/mitigation phase of the sentencing hearing, defense counsel argued to the jury that “[a]ll of you don’t have to decide that there is a mitigating factor, just one,” and “it only takes just one to say that there are sufficient mitigating factors which will prevent [defendant] from receiving death” and when the trial court instructed the jury and provided it with verdict forms which accurately stated the requirements for imposition of the death penalty. See People v. Towns , 174 Ill. 2d 453, 471-72 (1996). There is no reasonable probability that defendant was prejudiced as a result of the voir dire questioning, which occurred long before the jury ever heard any evidence or determined whether defendant was eligible for the death penalty. Defendant’s claim of error is waived.