Opinion ID: 423956
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the voir dire was adequate

Text: 17 At the time the indictment was returned in this case, the narcotics ring operated by the defendants was a major source of street sale drugs in Chicago; on a typical day the organization sold over $10,000.00 worth of heroin and cocaine. Thus, the case attracted extensive pretrial media coverage. Defendants now contend that by its failure to question each juror individually about his or her exposure to that publicity, the district court failed to adequately protect defendants' right to an impartial jury. 18 Where, as here, a jury's impartiality is challenged on the basis of pretrial publicity, the defendants must show that exposure to the publicity caused the actual existence of an opinion in a jury's mind at the time of trial. Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 723, 81 S.Ct. 1639, 1642, 6 L.Ed.2d 751 (1960). A mere showing that the jurors were familiar with news articles concerning the narcotics ring cannot establish prejudice because  '[i]t is not required ... that jurors be totally ignorant of the facts and issues involved,' especially given the presumption of juror impartiality that applies in all cases. United States v. Kampiles, 609 F.2d 1233 (7th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 954, 100 S.Ct. 2923, 64 L.Ed.2d 812 (1980) (quoting Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 722-23, 81 S.Ct. 1639, 1642-43, 6 L.Ed.2d 751 (1960)). 19 This circuit has addressed repeatedly the procedures to be used to insure juror impartiality where prejudicial pretrial publicity is brought to the trial court's attention. And, we have consistently rejected the rule proposed by the defendants here that an individual examination of the jurors be conducted in all cases where pretrial publicity is at issue. United States v. Kampiles, 609 F.2d 1233 (7th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 954, 100 S.Ct. 2923, 64 L.Ed.2d 812 (1980); United States v. Carter, 602 F.2d 799 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 967, 100 S.Ct. 457, 62 L.Ed.2d 380 (1979); Margoles v. United States, 407 F.2d 727 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 833, 90 S.Ct. 89, 24 L.Ed.2d 84 (1969). We remain unconvinced that individual interrogation is a superior guarantee of impartiality; indeed [i]t seems equally plausible that the average layman would become inhibited if he were called individually into the chambers of a federal judge as he would in the presence of his peers. Margoles v. United States, 407 F.2d 727, 732 (7th Cir.1969). Thus, we reject defendants' claim that their fair trial rights were violated by the district court's failure to interrogate jurors individually with respect to the pretrial publicity in this case. 20 Defendants also challenge the district court's failure to conduct individual voir dire with respect to media coverage in the interim between the swearing-in of the jurors on February 9, 1981, and the commencement of the trial two weeks later. This challenge must also fail. 21 Initially, we note that the trial judge properly admonished the jurors on February 9 to avoid exposure to any publicity concerning the case. 22 Moreover, when the trial commenced the judge conducted a collective voir dire of the jury to determine whether any juror had been exposed to the interim publicity. The sole juror who responded affirmatively to this inquiry was questioned individually and subsequently excused. Thus, the trial court followed precisely the procedure set forth by this court in Margoles: 23 [T]he procedure required by this Circuit where prejudicial publicity is brought to the court's attention during a trial is that the court must ascertain if any jurors who had been exposed to such publicity had read or heard the same. Such jurors who respond affirmatively must then be examined, individually and outside the presence of the other jurors, to determine the effect of the publicity. However, if no juror indicates, upon inquiry made to the jury collectively, that he has read or heard any of the publicity in question, the judge is not required to proceed further. 24 407 F.2d at 735 (emphasis added). 25 We conclude that the trial court properly used collective voir dire to insure that the jury's impartiality remained untainted despite the pretrial and trial publicity attracted by this case. Accordingly, we reject the defendants' claim that inadequate precautions were taken to protect their right to an impartial jury.