Opinion ID: 2082485
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Alternate Jury Selection

Text: Appellant alleges as grounds for post-conviction relief that the trial judge's procedure of selecting the two alternate jurors by lot was contrary to Indiana law and violated appellant's fundamental due process rights. During voir dire, fourteen jurors were impaneled to hear appellant's trial. Two jurors were to participate as alternates, who would witness the trial but not take part in the jury deliberations, unless they were called upon to replace a regular juror. However, the trial court did not designate at the beginning of the trial which two of the fourteen jurors would sit as alternates. At the conclusion of the presentation of the evidence, the trial court selected two jurors from the fourteen jurors sitting on the panel to serve as alternates. In selecting the two alternates, the trial court selected the two jurors who would sit as alternates by drawing lots. Appellant alleges error in the manner that the trial court impanelled the jury and selected the two alternates. Appellant argues that alternate jurors should be selected from the voir dire panel after the regular jurors are selected. The procedure employed by the trial court in selecting the alternates is a departure from the practice under Ind.Trial Rule 47. The designation of alternate jurors is usually a part of the impanelling process. The case Williams v. State (1990), Ind., 555 N.E.2d 133, is instructive on this issue. In Williams, we recognized the nature of the jury selection process: The purpose of the jury selection procedures is to assure that jurors are chosen on a random basis, to avoid even the possibility of bias. No litigant has the right to have any particular individual sit on the jury[,] even if qualified[,] as his right is one of rejection and not selection[,] and if he is eventually tendered a fair and impartial jury to try his case that is all to which he is entitled. In the absence of purposeful, nonrandom exclusion of prospective jurors, and with no showing of harm to the defendant, any technical noncompliance with the statutory requirements for jury selection does not amount to reversible error. Williams, 555 N.E.2d at 138. Here as in T.R. 47, the essential core value is jury qualifications and impartiality. The alternate juror must have the same qualifications as a regular juror. There is no reason to believe that the core value was threatened here. This departure from the norm carried no prejudice or harm. We agree that there is no ground here for post-conviction relief.