Opinion ID: 2015859
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: motions to strike members of venire

Text: In Strohl's third assignment of error, Strohl claims the district court erred in failing to sustain certain motions to strike, which in turn, forced him to use peremptory challenges. The record shows that several members of the general venire admitted reading newspaper articles regarding Strohl's prior murder conviction. The voir dire transcript reveals that 19 of the original 29 venirepersons had heard or read something regarding this case or the prior case. During voir dire, the defense moved to strike 10 of 29 venirepersons for cause. The district court sustained three of those challenges and denied the other seven. Strohl complains the district court erred in overruling these seven motions to strike, which in turn, forced him to use his peremptory challenges. The law does not require that a juror be totally ignorant of the facts and issues; it is sufficient if the juror can lay aside his or her impressions or opinions and render a verdict based on the evidence. State v. Lotter, 255 Neb. 456, 586 N.W.2d 591 (1998); State v. Jacob, 253 Neb. 950, 574 N.W.2d 117 (1998). The competency of a juror is generally presumed, and the burden is on the challenging party to establish otherwise. State v. Jacob, supra ; State v. Rice, 231 Neb. 202, 435 N.W.2d 889 (1989). The retention or rejection of a venireperson as a juror is a matter of discretion with the trial court and is subject to reversal only when clearly wrong. State v. Lotter, supra ; State v. Jacob, supra ; State v. McHenry, 247 Neb. 167, 525 N.W.2d 620 (1995). Even though the record reveals that several venirepersons possessed knowledge of Strohl's prior conviction, the record, taken as a whole, adequately demonstrates that each juror either had formed no opinion regarding Strohl's guilt or innocence or that he or she could set aside any opinions and decide the case based on the evidence. We therefore find the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Strohl's motions to strike. Strohl's additional complaint that the district court's failure to sustain his motions to strike denied him due process by forcing him to use peremptory challenges is without merit. In Ross v. Oklahoma, 487 U.S. 81, 108 S.Ct. 2273, 101 L.Ed.2d 80 (1988), the Court explained that whether the wrongful denial of a challenge for cause violates due process because a peremptory challenge must be used to eliminate that venireperson is a question for each state court. In State v. Bradley, 236 Neb. 371, 461 N.W.2d 524 (1990), we stated that in any event, there can be no question whether a challenge for cause has been wrongfully denied if the denial was not erroneous. Because the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motions to strike, this argument is meritless. See id.