Opinion ID: 2174346
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Refusal to allow individual questioning

Text: Christeson argues that the trial court erred by overruling his motions to allow individual questioning during voir dire, which, he alleges, was necessitated by pre-trial publicity. Christeson does not allege that any persons who served on his jury actually held opinions that prevented them from impartially deciding his guilt or innocence. Instead, his allegation, as we understand it, is that in light of a newspaper article published the day before jury selection began, the questioning the trial court allowed during voir dire was insufficient to ensure that the jury was impartial. The newspaper article appeared on the front page of the Nevada Daily Mail on August 25, 1999. It reported, based on preliminary hearing testimony later excluded by the court, that trouble between Christeson and Ms. Brouk began in January 1998, when she asked Christeson and Carter not to hunt on her property because her son played outside. The article also stated that Adrian Brouk had tried to escape, but Christeson captured her, which was not part of the trial testimony. The article also noted that Christeson would be brought to the courtroom early each morning so the jurors would not see him in leg irons and shackles. Individual voir dire is not required in death penalty cases. State v. Brown, 998 S.W.2d 531, 546 (Mo. banc 1999), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 979, 120 S.Ct. 431, 145 L.Ed.2d 337 (1999). Control of voir dire is within the discretion of the trial judge; only abuse of discretion and likely injury justify reversal. State v. Barton, 998 S.W.2d 19, 25 (Mo. banc 1999), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 1121, 120 S.Ct. 945, 145 L.Ed.2d 823 (2000). The trial court abuses its discretion only if the voir dire permitted does not allow for the discovery of bias, prejudice, or partiality. Id. The relevant question is not whether there was publicity about a case, or even whether a venireperson had formed an opinion based on pre-trial publicity, but whether the jurors had such fixed opinions about the case that they could not impartially judge the defendant's guilt or innocence under the law. Id. To address the concern about potential publicity, the court allowed counsel to ask whether any venirepersons had read the newspaper article or had otherwise been exposed to pre-trial publicity about Christeson's case and, if so, whether they had formed an opinion about his guilt or innocence as a result. Additionally, as to those venirepersons who had formed an opinion, counsel was allowed to ask whether they could set aside that opinion and decide Christeson's guilt or innocence based solely on the evidence presented at trial. To alleviate Christeson's particularized concern that prospective jurors who had not read the article might be exposed to the content of the article during voir dire, the court divided the jurors into small groups for questioning and prohibited inquiries about the jurors' specific recollections of the content of the article. Most important, the record is clear that none of the jurors selected for the trial indicated that they held an opinion about Christeson's guilt before the evidence was presented or that they could not decide his guilt or innocence based on the evidence. For these reasons, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying individual voir dire. Christeson also raises the related claim that the trial court erred in denying his motions to strike two jurors, Gary Ashby and Elaine Allen, for cause because of their exposure to the newspaper article. Contrary to Christeson's assertion, the record shows that neither juror actually read the article, but that both merely heard other people talking about it. Furthermore, both jurors said they had not formed any opinion about Christeson's guilt and would decide the case on the evidence presented. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motions to strike for cause. See State v. Smith, 32 S.W.3d 532, 544 (Mo. banc 2000); State v. Johnson, 22 S.W.3d 183, 187 (Mo. banc 2000), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 935, 121 S.Ct. 322, 148 L.Ed.2d 259 (2000).