Opinion ID: 1454621
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Prosecution's Use of Peremptory Challenges to Excuse Jurors Skeptical About the Propriety of the Death Penalty

Text: (9) Defendant contends the prosecutor used peremptory challenges to excuse seven jurors whom defendant describes as death penalty skeptics. He argues that the prosecutor's use of challenges for this purpose denied him his right to a neutral and impartial penalty phase jury in violation of the United States and California Constitutions. (U.S. Const., Amends. VI, VIII & XIV; Cal. Const., art. I, §§ 7, 15, 16 & 17.) Initially, defendant waived any error in this regard by failing to object to the prosecutor's use of challenges. ( People v. Carrera (1989) 49 Cal.3d 291, 331, fn. 29 [261 Cal. Rptr. 348, 777 P.2d 121].) Moreover, we have repeatedly rejected any claim of constitutional infirmity in a prosecutor's use of peremptory challenges to remove jurors with reservations about the death penalty. ( Id. at pp. 331-332; People v. Dyer (1988) 45 Cal.3d 26, 58 [246 Cal. Rptr. 209, 753 P.2d 1].) For these reasons, we reject defendant's contention.