Opinion ID: 1536009
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Voir Dire Re: Victim's Age

Text: Defendant, for the first time on appeal, claims that the trial court committed plain error and his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance of counsel by failing to determine whether the age of the victim would adversely impact a potential juror's ability to deliberate fairly. We disagree. The lengthy jury questionnaire and the individual voir dire provided the court and counsel with more than enough information to determine whether the victim's age would cause potential jurors automatically to impose the death penalty or refuse to consider the mitigating factors presented by the defense.
During juror orientation, the trial court informed each panel that the case involved the murder and sexual assault of a seven-year-old girl. Next, the court and the attorneys questioned 331 potential jurors in a lengthy voir dire based upon their review of an in-depth questionnaire filled out by each person. The process lasted from January 13 until April 21. The oral and written voir dire was designed to weed out jurors who expressed any doubt about their ability to remain impartial. Question number seven of the jury questionnaire asked whether the juror had any children or stepchildren. If the juror answered yes, question eight followed up by inquiring about the age, sex, education and employment status of the child, and whether the child lived with the prospective juror. Question ten asked whether the juror had any grandchildren, and if so, their ages, sexes, education, employment status and whether they lived with the prospective juror. Question nine asked if the potential juror, or anyone close to her, had suffered the loss of a child, and if so, to describe how the loss occurred. An entire section was devoted to the jurors' knowledge of Megan's Law. Jurors specifically were asked if their knowledge or suspicion that Megan's Law was an outgrowth of the case would prevent them from judging the case impartially. Questions 107 through 110 addressed whether the juror, or anyone she knew, had been a victim of child abuse or molestation, and whether the juror knew anyone who had ever been accused of committing child abuse or molestation. The juror also was asked if she had attended any class on or had studied child sexual abuse. Questions 128 through 130 dealt with the possible admission of victim impact evidence. Jurors were asked if they could listen to such evidence and still fairly consider the mitigating evidence presented by the defense under the guidelines set forth by the court. Question 131 asked how the juror felt about the possibility that she might be shown disturbing photographs of the victim. Question 132 asked if there was anything not covered by the questionnaire that the juror felt might affect her ability to be fair and impartial. Of those jurors questioned by the court, thirty-four were excused after indicating they would have problems being impartial because the case involved a child. The court specifically asked seventy-four of the remaining ninety-seven qualified jurors about their ability to remain impartial, given that the victim was seven years old. Nine of those jurors deliberated on the case. Defense counsel did not object to the court's voir dire about the juror's ability to remain impartial given that the victim was a child. Nor did counsel exercise any of the peremptory challenges allotted for defendant in jury selection.
To state a claim for ineffective assistance of counsel under the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I, paragraph 10, of the New Jersey Constitution, a defendant must first establish that counsel's representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness. State v. Fritz, 105 N.J. 42, 67, 519 A. 2d 336 (1987), (referencing Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed. 2d 674 (1984), and United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648, 104 S.Ct. 2039, 80 L.Ed. 2d 657 (1984)). Second, he must show a reasonable probability that the result of the proceeding would have been different but for counsel's deficiencies. Strickland, supra, 466 U.S. at 691-96, 104 S.Ct. at 2066-69, 80 L.Ed. 2d at 695-98. The reasonableness of counsel's performance should be evaluated in light of all relevant circumstances at the time the alleged error occurred. Id. at 689-90, 104 S.Ct. at 2067-68, 80 L.Ed. 2d at 694-95. The inquiry must include the possibility that counsel's decisions were based on sound trial strategy rather than incompetence or deficiency. Id. at 690-91, 104 S.Ct. at 2066, 80 L.Ed. 2d at 695-96. Defendant bears the burden of proving that counsel's performance was unreasonable under the prevailing professional norms. Id. at 687-91, 104 S.Ct. at 2064-66, 80 L.Ed. 2d at 693-95. The purpose of voir dire is to ensure an impartial jury and a fair trial. State v. Martini (Martini I), 131 N.J. 176, 210, 619 A. 2d 1208 (1993). In a capital case, the voir dire should probe the minds of prospective jurors to ascertain whether the jurors entertain any biases that would interfere with their ability to decide the case fairly and impartially. State v. Erazo, 126 N.J. 112, 129, 594 A. 2d 232 (1991). The questions also should determine whether the circumstances of the crime would prevent the prospective juror from considering relevant mitigating evidence. Martini I, supra, 131 N.J. at 211, 619 A. 2d 1208; State v. Biegenwald, 126 N.J. 1, 30-31, 594 A. 2d 172 (1991) ( Biegenwald IV ). A defendant's sentence should be affirmed if the voir dire was adequate to ensure that a fair and impartial jury was empaneled. Id. at 34-35, 524 A. 2d 130. In Moore, supra, 122 N.J. at 451, 585 A. 2d 864, the Court stressed the importance of open-ended questions in voir dire regarding the status of the victims as it relates to any prejudice affecting the juror's ability to consider mitigating evidence. At issue was the trial court's refusal to allow defense counsel to probe prospective jurors on whether they would be unable to remain fair and impartial given that one of the victims was six months pregnant and the other was an infant. We refused to reverse, finding that the court's questioning otherwise had been probing enough to weed out prospective jurors who might have been biased by the facts of the case. Id. at 451-54, 585 A. 2d 864. Defects of the type in Moore, supra, can be cured if the voir dire was otherwise so thorough and probing as to ensure that the jurors empaneled had the `capacity to credit the evidence in mitigation,' State v. Bey, 112 N.J. 123, 154, 548 A. 2d 887 (1988) ( Bey II ), and the ability to perform their duties in accordance with the court's instructions and their oaths... Biegenwald IV, supra, 126 N.J. at 34-35, 594 A. 2d 172. The Court also has resisted reversing convictions due to inadequate voir dire with regard to victim status when it can be said that defense counsel had a strategic reason for not delving into the nature of the victim. Marshall I, supra, 123 N.J. at 93, 586 A. 2d 85 (finding no abuse of discretion given that defense counsel requested that questions regarding death-qualification be limited as part of well-considered strategic attempt to limit juror exposure to questions concerning capital punishment). There is no merit to defendant's claim that counsel did not adequately delve into the impact the victim's age might have on jurors. Both the court and defense counsel extensively questioned the jurors regarding the fact the victim was a child. Only two jurors were not questioned extensively on that issue, Delventhal and Livecchi. Nothing in either jurors' statement raise questions about their ability to remain impartial. In the first instance, Delventhal was asked if he could properly consider victim impact and mitigating evidence as instructed by the court. He answered that he could. Although defense counsel did not follow up and question Delventhal regarding his feelings on children, counsel probed whether the juror would consider mitigating evidence about the defendant and, if so, what type. Undoubtedly, counsel made a strategic decision not to go further with those questions because there was no indication from Delventhal that he would be unfriendly to the defense. In fact, Delventhal used to be a criminal defense attorney. More importantly, Delventhal was the only juror at that point who did not know of defendant's prior criminal record. Those facts presumably played a role in defense counsel's decision not to object to Delventhal's qualification as a juror. In Livecchi's case, there also was no evidence that she would have a problem remaining impartial. Although the court did not ask Livecchi the same in-depth questions regarding the victim's age as it had asked the other jurors, defense counsel probed the issue. Counsel questioned whether the Kankas' victim impact evidence would be overwhelmingly emotional for Livecchi. She answered no. When pressed, she insisted that she would consider the mitigating evidence as carefully and as equally as she considered the family's impact statements. Based on Livecchi's oral and written answers, defense counsel and the court had no reason to believe the victim's age would interfere with Livecchi's ability to remain impartial. Defense counsel's failure to object to Livecchi's qualification likely was a strategic decision. We conclude that the court adequately questioned the jurors regarding the possible bias that might result from their knowledge that the victim was seven years old. The court posed open-ended questions based on the answers the juror had given in the questionnaire. Defense counsel displayed no reluctance to question jurors extensively on the subject, indicating that counsel had strategic reasons for the omission in instances when it did not probe further. Every juror who said anything that would indicate bias was excused from the panel. In light of those facts, we find that no error was committed by the trial court. Defendant's claim that he was denied effective assistance of counsel also is without merit. Counsel failed to elaborate on the court's questioning regarding the victim in only one instance, and there is a clear indication that that decision was strategic. Moreover, defendant offers no evidence to support the contention that but for counsel's deficiencies (if the Court were to find that there were any), the result of the proceeding would have been different. Defendant's claims, therefore, are rejected.