Opinion ID: 198229
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Challenge to the Composition and Voir Dire Examination of the Jury

Text: 85 Rosario contends: (1) that the district court wrongly rejected his challenge to the grand and petit jury venires on the ground of systematic exclusion of Hispanics; and (2) that the court violated his due process and fair trial rights by denying his motion to directly question the venire. Neither claim is compelling.
86 At base, Rosario's argument is that the dissent in United States v. Pion, 25 F.3d 18 (1st Cir.1994)(rejecting an attack on the composition of juries in the district court of Massachusetts based on under-representation of the Hispanic population), was correct. He offers nothing new in the way of statistics or legal authority to buttress his claim. Nor does he provide any reason why we should reconsider our recent reaffirmation of Pion in United States v. Lopez, 147 F.3d 1 (1st Cir.1998). Consequently, there is no need to go any further.
87 Fed.R.Crim.P. 24(a) provides that the trial court may decide to conduct the voir dire itself or may allow the parties to conduct it. See Rosales-Lopez v. United States, 451 U.S. 182, 101 S.Ct. 1629, 68 L.Ed.2d 22 (1981); Fed.R.Crim.P. 24(a). Rosario argues, contrary to the language of Rule 24(a), that due process requires that he should have been allowed to question the venire. 88 There is simply no authority, as Rosario himself admits, for the proposition that defense counsel must be allowed--as a matter of right--to question the venire. Rather, the law states that the trial court has the option of allowing counsel to conduct voir dire or conducting the examination itself. If the court chooses the latter option, as it did in this case, it must permit counsel to supplement the examination by such further inquiry as it deems proper or shall itself submit to the prospective jurors such additional questions by the parties or their attorneys as it deems proper. Fed.R.Crim.P. 24(a). 89 The trial court complied with the requirements of Rule 24(a) by asking the venire, at defense counsel's request, about their possible prejudices against Hispanics. See Tr. 10/7 at 18. After noting that the law enforcement officials would all be Caucasians, the district court additionally asked whether any juror would be inclined to take the word of a white police officer over a Hispanic defendant, or otherwise give some edge to the officer's testimony. See id. at 19. Accordingly, the court's conduct of voir dire was entirely proper.