Opinion ID: 2072259
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Impaneling the Jury

Text: Defendant claims that the trial court made disparate rulings on challenges for cause made by the State and the defense. Defendant alleges that these rulings caused defendant to use 2 of its 14 peremptory challenges. Defendant eventually used all of his peremptory challenges, and his motion for additional peremptory challenges was denied. The defendant first points to the voir dire of Gail Porter, whom the court dismissed for cause on a motion by the State. Before being dismissed, Porter stated that she might believe the testimony of policemen or firemen a little bit more than the testimony of other witnesses. Porter also stated that she did not know if she could sign a guilty verdict because she did not think it was her responsibility to judge someone's fate. Defendant next claims that the trial court denied his challenges for cause to June Deacan and Susan Wisniewski although they made comments similar to Porter's. June Deacan stated during voir dire that she might be influenced if a witness was a policeman. Deacan explained that she was brought up to believe the police. When asked if she would believe a police officer's testimony more or less than the testimony of any other person, Deacan stated that she would try to treat policemen like any other witness. When the trial court denied his challenge for cause, defendant used a peremptory challenge to excuse Deacon. Susan Wisniewski stated that she guessed she could treat a police officer the same as any other witness, but she explained that she had a family vacation planned in approximately two weeks. Defendant claimed that a conflict between Wisniewski's vacation and the trial could impair her partiality, but this reasoning was rejected by the court. Defendant then sought to excuse Wisniewski for cause based on her response that she guessed she could treat police officers like other witnesses. The trial court denied defendant's challenge for cause, and defendant exercised a peremptory challenge. In addition to saying that she might accord the testimony of police officers more weight than the testimony of other witnesses, Gail Porter stated that because she did not think it was her responsibility to judge another's fate, she did not know if she could sign a guilty verdict form. Neither of these comments were tempered or recanted by later statements. Porter's expressed reservation concerning her ability to judge another person by signing a guilty verdict made her removal for cause proper. June Deacan stated that she would try to follow applicable law, and Susan Wisniewski stated that she guessed she could follow applicable law. Unlike Porter, neither Deacan nor Wisniewski expressed reservation concerning their ability to follow the law, and we do not believe it was error for the trial judge to deny motions to dismiss these jurors for cause. An equivocal response by a prospective juror does not necessitate striking the prospective juror for cause where the prospective juror later states that he will try to disregard his bias. (See People v. Tipton (1991), 222 Ill.App.3d 657, 664, 165 Ill.Dec. 131, 584 N.E.2d 310 (prospective juror stating she would try to disregard her bias was not struck for cause).) Neither does a scheduling conflict preclude a prospective juror from service where the juror's comments do not indicate that the conflict will cause bias. See People v. McGhee (1992), 238 Ill.App.3d 864, 179 Ill.Dec. 25, 605 N.E.2d 1039 (time constraints of prospective juror did not necessitate his removal for cause).
After defendant had exhausted all his peremptory challenges, he moved for additional peremptory challenges. The trial judge denied this motion. Defendant contends that this denial was an abuse of discretion. Reasonable limits on the right of peremptory challenge, including a maximum number of peremptory challenges, are necessary if the judicial process is to function effectively. ( People v. Moss (1985), 108 Ill.2d 270, 91 Ill.Dec. 617, 483 N.E.2d 1252.) Supreme Court Rule 434(d) (134 Ill.2d R. 434(d)) establishes the number of peremptory challenges that the parties may normally use in criminal cases. Rule 434(d) does not grant the trial judge discretion to allow additional peremptory challenges. The trial judge noted that both sides had taken care in the use of their peremptory challenges. He determined that there was no viable reason for allowing additional peremptory challenges. Nothing in the record suggests that defendant required additional peremptory challenges to assure an impartial jury. Because we believe that additional peremptory challenges were not necessary, we need not consider here whether trial judges have discretion to grant peremptory challenges in addition to those provided by rule.
Defendant contends that it was an abuse of discretion to reopen the voir dire examination of prospective juror Frenchie Lamar Noel. After the examination of several prospective jurors, including Noel, in open court, the court and counsel adjourned to chambers to discuss challenges for cause and peremptory challenges. The State moved to dismiss Noel for cause based on two separate grounds. First, the State noted that Noel indicated that he had been jumped by police and wrongfully charged with a crime. Although the charges were eventually dropped, Noel stated that he believed the court system had been unfair to him. Next, the State claimed that during his initial voir dire examination, Noel had been equivocal in his responses to Witherspoon questions. During the in-chambers conference, the trial judge noted that he had omitted the question of whether Noel would accept the testimony of police officers the same as any other witness. The trial judge explained that he omitted this question because, based on Noel's claim of prior police misconduct, he was afraid Noel's answer would taint the rest of the venire. In response to the State's motion and based on his explanation for the omitted questions, the trial judge asked that Noel be brought into chambers for further questioning. On his further examination, Noel was asked to explain in detail his prior incident with the police. After doing so, Noel stated that he would treat the testimony of police officer witnesses the same as the testimony of any other witness. Noel was further asked to clarify his position regarding the death penalty. After several answers that the trial judge characterized as evasive, Noel stated that he would not consider the death penalty under any circumstances. The trial judge then struck Noel for cause. The defense argues that the trial judge erred in further examining Noel in chambers after the initial voir dire in open court. There was evidence in the present case that Noel may have been prejudiced. Noel's repeated references to being jumped by police officers was evidence that Noel did not trust police officers, and he might treat them differently than other witnesses. Additionally, Noel's equivocal responses to the Witherspoon questioning made his impartiality respecting the death penalty suspect. Noel had not yet been sworn, nor had the attorneys accepted him as a juror. The trial judge admittedly did not subject Noel to the full range of voir dire questioning because he was afraid that Noel's answers would taint the rest of the venire. Noel's voir dire had not yet been completed, and the initial portion of his voir dire raised serious questions as to his ability to properly perform the duties of a juror. Under these circumstances, it was not error to ask additional questions of Noel in chambers out of the hearing of the rest of the venire.
Defendant claims that during voir dire, Matthew Evans did not fully divulge what could have been a bias in favor of the State. During trial, it came to defense counsel's attention that Evans was the friend of a judge, and that Evans' father-in-law had been an investigator for the Cook County State's Attorney. Defendant contends that Evans failed to disclose this information when asked. At the close of evidence, the defense moved to reopen the voir dire of Evans, to exclude Evans and for a mistrial. The trial court denied these motions. Prior to trial, the trial judge spoke to the entire venire and asked the following questions: THE COURT: Do any of youthis is a two part question. Do any of you know any Assistant State's Attorneys, Public Defenders or judges? Okay. Now, the second part of that question. The fact that you may know an Assistant State's Attorney, or Public Defender, or a judge, would this in any way prevent you from being fair and impartial? In other words, all we are asking you to do is listen to the evidence, and based on that evidence and the law, come up with a fair and impartial verdict. Would the fact that you may know one of these people, would that in any way affect your ability to do so? (No response.) THE COURT: Okay. No problem there. Defendant contends that Evans failed to disclose that he was a friend of a judge in response to the above question. The record does not disclose which members of the venire, if any, indicated in response to the question that they knew an assistant State's Attorney, public defender or a judge. The defendant, therefore, has not established that Evans failed to answer the question in the affirmative. In any event, Evans indicated during voir dire that he was a police officer in the Chicago suburb of Westchester. Evans candidly admitted knowing numerous policemen and attorneys. In response to the trial judge's inquiry into whether he knew any State's Attorneys, Evans indicated that he knew a former State's Attorney, who was a judge at the time of trial, and a State's Attorney from the Fourth District. Evans stated that he did not believe there was any reason that he could not be impartial in this case. Where neither party has exercised a peremptory challenge against a potential juror, the decision whether to accept the potential juror as an impartial trier of fact is discretionary with the trial judge. ( People v. Taylor (1984), 101 Ill.2d 377, 386-87, 78 Ill.Dec. 359, 462 N.E.2d 478.) In the present case, we do not believe that the additional information regarding Evans' association with a judge or his father-in-law's position with the Cook County State's Attorney put Evans' impartiality in question. There is no evidence in the record that Evans withheld any information that the trial court asked him to disclose. Evans freely admitted that he was acquainted with a State's Attorney and a judge. Defendant fails to explain how Evans' friendship with an additional judge could impair his impartiality or offer defendant further information with which to test the potential juror for bias. Further, due to Evans' friendships and strong ties to law enforcement, the occupation of his father-in-law does little to add to Evans' apparent knowledge of the criminal judicial system. Based on the similarities between the information disclosed by Evans and that discovered by defendant, it was not an abuse of discretion to deny defendant's motion to reopen the voir dire examination of Evans. Defendant also claims that the State exploited Evans' background as a policeman to bring to the attention of the jury the fact that defendant was given a polygraph examination. Defendant contends that this alleged exploitation was in violation of an in limine order. No specific mention of defendant's polygraph examination was made during trial. Defendant, however, claims that the testimony of Sergeant Patrick Garrity, the officer who administered the polygraph examination, was designed to let Evans know that defendant took a polygraph examination. Garrity testified that he worked in the police department's crime lab, and that defendant was brought to him for questioning. Garrity testified that prior to the interrogation, defendant signed a written waiver of his Miranda rights. Garrity stated that he then asked defendant about his background, how he was feeling, whether he was taking any medication, and whether he had consumed any alcohol. Defendant claims these questions had no relevance to the case, and could only be designed to inform Evans that Garrity gave defendant a polygraph examination. Defendant, however, failed to object to the testimony at trial, and has therefore waived the issue on appeal. People v. Shum (1987), 117 Ill.2d 317, 340, 111 Ill.Dec. 546, 512 N.E.2d 1183.