Opinion ID: 2550813
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 16

Heading: Jurors Susan Lomax, Jerral Jacobs, and Ronald Thompson.

Text: As an initial matter, defendant did not raise a cause challenge against either Jacobs or Thompson. This Court has traditionally applied LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 841 to errors occurring during voir dire. It has consistently held that a defendant waives review of irregularities in the selection of the jury when an objection is not timely raised. See State v. Potter, 591 So.2d 1166, 1168-1169 (La.1991) (failure to make Batson objection waived issue on appeal); State v. Spencer, 446 So.2d 1197, 1200 (La.1984) (review of improper exclusion of blacks from jury not preserved for appeal); State v. Whitt, 404 So.2d 254, 260 (La.1981) (objection to failure to sequester jury at an earlier time waived); State v. Bazile, 386 So.2d 349, 351 (La. 1980) (improper procedure for selecting venire not reviewable when objection was made after jury was sworn). Given that no challenge was raised concerning the jurors' inability to consider intoxication as a mitigating circumstance, these claims are waived. This Court held that a defendant must use one of his remaining peremptory challenges curatively to remove the juror or waive the complaint on appeal even in a case in which he ultimately exhausts his peremptory challenges. See, State v. Blank, 04-0204, p. 25 (La.4/11/07), 955 So.2d 90, 113 (In Louisiana, a defendant must use one of his peremptory challenges curatively to remove the juror, thus reducing his remaining peremptory challenges, or waive any complaint on appeal.)(citing State v. Connolly, 96-1680, p. 8 (La.7/1/97), 700 So.2d 810, 818; State v. Bourque, 622 So.2d 198, 229-30 (La.1993); State v. Fallon, 290 So.2d 273, 282 (La.1974)). This aspect of the Court's jurisprudence bears directly on defendant's complaints with regard to rulings by the trial court denying his cause challenge of Lomax, and, if they had been raised Jacobs, and Thompson. In the instant case, after all cause challenges had been heard, the court compiled a list of all remaining jurors, 32 names in all. The court then stated that the first 12 jurors on the list would be the jury unless either side wished to use peremptory challenges. The defense counsel then used nine challenges while the State used three. After the first round of challenges, Lomax, Jacobs, and Thompson were all in the top 12 people remaining on the list. There was then a second round of peremptory challenges in which the defense counsel used their remaining three challenges; however, again, they chose not to remove Lomax, Jacobs and Thompson. Accordingly, because defendant chose not to remove them from the jury while he still had available peremptory challenges, we find that his claims concerning the cause challenges are barred. See, Blank, 04-0204, p. 25, 955 So.2d at 113.