Opinion ID: 2338879
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Identifiable Prejudice

Text: Absent inherently prejudicial publicity which has so saturated the community as to have a probable impact upon the prospective jurors, there must be some showing of a connection between the publicity... and the existence of actual jury prejudice. McWilliams v. United States, 394 F.2d 41, 44 (8th Cir.); see United States v. Capra, 501 F.2d 267, 279 (2d Cir.). The defendant points out, and the state does not dispute, that approximately 450 veniremen were questioned over an eleven-day period in order to select a jury of twelve and four alternates. According to the defendant, a majority of those questioned were excused for cause because they either knew the victims or the victims' friends or relatives, or because they admitted to having preconceived notions of the defendant's guilt. In view of those facts, the defendant relies upon Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 81 S. Ct. 1639, 6 L. Ed. 2d 751, in support of his claim of identifiable or actual prejudice. [7] The voir dire record in Irvin, however, indicated that eight of the twelve jurors finally placed in the jury box thought the defendant was guilty before the trial had actually begun. Id., 727. In addition, Irvin involved a situation where media reports of the defendant's confession to six murders were widespread and where there were television reports of public opinion surveys regarding the defendant's guilt and the punishment he should receive as well as other instances of prejudicial pretrial publicity. Id., 725-26. In the present case, the defendant has not directed us to any portion of the voir dire examination of the jurors which would require a finding of constitutional unfairness as to the method of jury selection or as to the character of the jurors actually chosen. [8] See Dobbert v. Florida, supra, 303; see annot., 33 A.L.R.3d, supra, 58-71. Although the length to which the trial court must go in order to select jurors who appear to be impartial is a relevant factor in evaluating those jurors' assurances of impartiality; Murphy v. Florida, supra, 802-803; it is by no means conclusive. State v. Herrington, 41 Wis. 2d 757, 764, 165 N.W.2d 120. On the other hand, the facts that a large portion of the news reports in the present case occurred nearly a year before trial and that those accounts were, as we have said, mostly factual, militate against a finding of actual prejudice in the instant case. Murphy v. Florida, supra, 802; Calley v. Callaway, supra, 208; see People v. Speck, 41 Ill. 2d 177, 242 N.E.2d 208. Moreover, it is significant to note that at least one court has, in light of a defendant's failure to produce a complete record of the voir dire on appeal, assumed that the voir dire disclosed no prejudice on the part of the jurors finally selected to sit. State v. Coty, 229 A.2d 205, 212 (Me.). Under the circumstances presented in this case, the defendant has failed to demonstrate that the trial court erred in concluding that the pretrial publicity was neither inherently nor identifiably prejudicial and that the defendant was able to obtain a fair trial by an impartial jury in Hartford County.