Opinion ID: 2395763
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure to life qualify the jury

Text: Williams' fifth ground for relief is his claim that the trial court improperly permitted the jury to be death-qualified by permitting voir dire to exclude those jurors who were opposed to the death penalty, while at the same time failing to require all jurors to be life-qualified by conducting an examination to determine whether any jurors were partial to the death penalty. Williams claims that such alleged failure resulted in an unacceptable risk that at least one of the jurors would have been unable to properly consider the evidence in aggravation and mitigation in the penalty hearing. According to Williams, his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to determine whether each and every juror could ever impose a life sentence or would impose a death sentence in every first degree murder conviction. To the extent that Williams' arguments assert error on the part of the trial court, they are waived by the failure to raise them on direct appeal. With respect to Williams' claims calling trial counsel's advocacy into question, counsel cannot be deemed ineffective merely because he did not ask life qualification questions of all jurors in this case. See generally Commonwealth v. Henry, 550 Pa. 346, 370, 706 A.2d 313, 324 (1998); Commonwealth v. Washington, 549 Pa. 12, 31-32, 700 A.2d 400, 410 (1997), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 118 S.Ct. 2375, 141 L.Ed.2d 742 (1998); Lark, 548 Pa. at 450-51, 698 A.2d at 48; Commonwealth v. Blount, 538 Pa. 156, 164, 647 A.2d 199, 203-04 (1994). Moreover, the trial court specifically asked the following series of voir dire questions, encompassing generally jurors' views as to both death and life qualification: ... Do you have any moral, religious, or conscientious reason against sitting as a juror in this case and passing on the judgment of guilt or not guilt of this Defendant on these charges? ...    ... Would your own views when imposing a death penalty in a case where the Prosecution is seeking the death penalty, will your views either prevent you or substantially impair you in performing duty as a juror in accordance with the instructions on the law as given by the court in your oath as a juror? ...    The jury is only concerned with sentencing after the guilty or not guilty portion of the trial has been concluded and then only if a defendant has been found guilty of Murder in the First Degree. Should that occur, the Court will instruct you on the law concerning when the sentence may be life imprisonment and when the death penalty may apply. The question is: After you have heard the law, will you be able to follow the Court's instructions in this regard? During voir dire, trial counsel also elaborated upon these questions in a number of instances where follow-up was indicated. Our review of the record of voir dire reveals no instance during which trial counsel's conduct fell below the minimum required performance and, thus, no basis for relief.