Opinion ID: 1715096
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: equivocating jurors

Text: Blackwelder first argues that the jury's recommendation of death was not the product of adversarial testing because he actively sought jurors with pro-death penalty views. During voir dire, two prospective jurors initially equivocated about the possibility of recommending a life sentence. Both ultimately concluded, however, that they could recommend a life sentence if the mitigating circumstances outweighed the aggravating ones. Both jurors were on the panel that recommended a sentence of death. Blackwelder concedes that he failed to object to any potential jurors. Blackwelder had seven peremptory challenges remaining at the end of jury selection. He did not attempt to challenge either juror for cause. In fact, Blackwelder expressed that he was happy with the jury panel. We have held that defendants are required to challenge jurors they find questionable. Pentecost v. State, 545 So.2d 861, 863 n. 1 (Fla.1989) (To show reversible error, a defendant must show that all peremptories had been exhausted and that an objectionable juror had to be accepted.). Because Blackwelder chose not to challenge either juror, he cannot now complain about their presence on the jury. To permit relief under this claim would allow a defendant to intentionally inject error into the penalty phase to hedge against a sentence of death. Cf. Armstrong v. State, 579 So.2d 734, 735 (Fla.1991) (affirming where the defendant claimed that the trial court committed fundamental error by charging the jury with an erroneous instruction the defendant had requested). Even if Blackwelder had preserved this claim, we would deny it on the merits. As we have held, [i]n a death penalty case, a juror is only unqualified based on his or her views of capital punishment, if he or she expresses an unyielding conviction and rigidity toward the death penalty. Barnhill v. State, 834 So.2d 836, 844 (Fla.2002). Here, Blackwelder complains that two jurors initially equivocated about the possibility of recommending a life sentence. Neither juror, however, held an unyielding conviction toward the death penalty. Both ultimately agreed they could recommend life if the mitigators outweighed the aggravators.