Opinion ID: 2085855
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Improper Jury Selection and Jury Misconduct

Text: Bieghler claims he was tried by a prejudiced jury and thus denied a fair trial. His claim is supported by a menu of arguments: some jurors were predisposed to vote for the death penalty; alternate jurors were present for deliberations; and a juror read the Bible during sequestration. In the main, these are points that bear on the performance of appellate counsel. Bieghler identifies six jurors as so predisposed to the death penalty that they could not follow the law or fairly weigh the evidence. Our review of voir dire and those jurors' depositions, taken some nine years after Bieghler's trial, fails to expose any error in jury selection. Bieghler argues that the presence of the alternate jurors in the room while the twelve jurors deliberated deprived him of a fair trial. The evidence before the post-conviction court did not show that was the case. Finally, the claim that the jury was tainted by a juror's consultation of the Bible does not stand on fact as revealed by the record. Juror Smith gave a deposition nearly a decade after Bieghler's trial. She testified in a confused manner that failed to prove a Bible was present in the jury room or courtroom. [13] Her testimony is consistent, though, that the Bible was not consulted as an extra-legal source of authority during deliberations. She was consistent, too, in stating that the jurors' discussion about the biblical propriety of the death penalty occurred about the time of the deliberations on guilt and not during the penalty-phase. (P.C.R. at 5088.) As the post-conviction court noted, Smith's testimony establishes that conscientious people who are faced with a life and death decision resort to their religious scruples in making such decision. (P.C.R. at 3267.) Such deep introspection neither violates principles of justice nor prejudices the defendant. We see neither ineffective appellate representation nor any other grounds for relief here.