Opinion ID: 867281
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Case-specific Questioning

Text: ¶ 13 Garcia argues that by allowing the State to ask prospective jurors questions that reflected case-specific facts, the trial court allowed the State to pack the jury with jurors who would impose the death penalty in his case. We review a trial court's rulings on voir dire of prospective jurors for abuse of discretion. State v. Glassel, 211 Ariz. 33, 45 ¶ 36, 116 P.3d 1193, 1205 (2005). ¶ 14 During voir dire for the first jury, the State said that there would be a question whether Garcia was the actual shooter and asked some prospective jurors if they could consider imposing a death sentence on a non-shooter. After the trial court excluded two prospective jurors who indicated that they might not be able to consider a death sentence in these circumstances, Garcia moved to preclude the State from asking jurors if the specific facts of Garcia's case would prevent them from imposing death. Although the State said it would ask questions that did not directly involve the facts of the case, it subsequently presented prospective jurors with several hypothetical situations that closely mirrored the facts of Garcia's case. ¶ 15 In reviewing the qualification of jurors in capital cases, we have rejected efforts by defense counsel to elicit how prospective jurors will vote based on specific facts. See State v. Smith, 215 Ariz. 221, 231 ¶ 42, 159 P.3d 531, 541 (2007) (concluding that trial court did not abuse its discretion by refusing defendant's request to ask jurors if they would automatically impose death upon finding specific aggravators); State v. Johnson, 212 Ariz. 425, 434-35 ¶¶ 29-35, 133 P.3d 735, 744-45 (2006) (concluding that trial court did not abuse its discretion by refusing defendant's request to ask jurors whether they regarded specific factors as mitigation). Garcia argues that the trial court here impermissibly allowed the State to question jurors in a manner contrary to Smith and Johnson. ¶ 16 The trial court did not abuse its discretion in allowing the State to ask prospective jurors if they could consider imposing a death sentence if a defendant had not actually shot the victim. Given the nature of this case, these questions properly probed beyond abstract juror views on capital punishment. See United States v. Fell, 372 F.Supp.2d 766, 769 (D.Vt.2005) (noting that in some cases, highly general questions may not be adequate to detect specific forms of juror bias, therefore, the parties should be allowed to ask more specific questions to investigate potential bias). And, unlike the rejected questions in Smith and Johnson, the State never asked jurors to precommit to a specific position; rather, it merely asked jurors if they could consider the death penalty in circumstances in which it is permitted under Arizona law. Cf. United States v. Johnson, 366 F.Supp.2d 822, 845 (N.D.Iowa 2005) (stating that a juror's willingness to consider life or death commits a juror to no other position than fair consideration of the appropriate penalty in light of all of the facts and the court's instructions).