Opinion ID: 390861
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Right To Trial By An Impartial Jury

Text: 37 An even more compelling reason that the bifurcated trial of defendant Smith necessitates the reversal of his conviction and one which does not require us to overlook a legal technicality in favor of the realities of the situation stems from the defendant's Sixth Amendment right to be tried by an impartial jury. U.S.Const. amend. VI (emphasis added); see Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart, 427 U.S. 539, 96 S.Ct. 2791, 49 L.Ed.2d 683 (1976). As the Supreme Court has noted, In essence, the right to jury trial guarantees to the criminally accused a fair trial by a panel of impartial, 'indifferent' jurors. The failure to accord an accused a fair hearing violates even the minimal standards of due process. Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 81 S.Ct. 1639, 1642, 6 L.Ed.2d 751 (1961); see Murphy v. Florida, 421 U.S. 794, 95 S.Ct. 2031, 44 L.Ed.2d 589 (1975). However, since it would be impractical to require that each juror be completely free from bias in widely publicized cases, (i)t is sufficient if the juror can lay aside his impression or opinion and render a verdict based on the evidence presented in court. 23 Irvin, supra, 81 S.Ct. at 1643. 38 Applying this standard to the case at bar, it is clear that defendant Smith was not tried before a fair and impartial jury. As noted above, after recovering from his heart ailment defendant Smith completed the presentation of his case before the same jury which had recently convicted three of his codefendants of participating in a conspiracy and cover-up centering around illicit activities in Judge Smith's court. Before Smith completed the presentation of his case, the jury had already determined that the charged conspiracy did in fact exist. The jury had also already considered as permitted by the trial judge's instruction whether Smith was a member of the conspiracy and whether Smith knowingly and wilfully participated in the substantive RICO violation charged in the indictment. Since Judge Smith was at the very heart of the offenses charged, it would have indeed been astounding if the same jury which convicted three of his codefendants had acquitted Judge Smith. A clearer case of jury prejudice is difficult to imagine. 39 Adverse pretrial publicity may prejudice a jury panel to such an extent that a fair trial before that panel is impossible. See Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 333, 86 S.Ct. 1507, 16 L.Ed.2d 600 (1966); Rideau v. Louisiana, 373 U.S. 723, 83 S.Ct. 1417, 10 L.Ed.2d 663 (1963). Similarly, the inadvertent exposure of a jury panel immediately prior to trial to the fact that the defendant was previously convicted in a related case requires disqualification of the panel. Leonard v. United States, 378 U.S. 544, 84 S.Ct. 1696, 12 L.Ed.2d 1028 (1964); cf. United States v. Carranza, 583 F.2d 25 (1st Cir. 1978) (defendant has right not to be tried by jurors who participated in his conviction in a prior case); Virgin Islands v. Parrott, 551 F.2d 553 (3d Cir. 1977) (absent waiver it violates the Sixth Amendment guarantee of an impartial jury to use a juror who sat in a previous case in which the same defendant was convicted of a similar offense, at least if the cases are proximate in time); Lett v. United States, 15 F.2d 690 (8th Cir. 1926) (error for court to allow jurors who had convicted defendant's wife of similar charges on the same day to hear defendant's case when defendant's wife was alleged to have participated in the offense for which defendant was charged). But the prejudicial impact of adverse pretrial publicity or of the jurors' knowledge that the defendant had been previously convicted in a related case pales when compared with the prejudice in the case at bar. The jurors had not simply heard television news reports about the conspiracy which featured Judge Smith as its main character; they had actually heard damaging testimony under oath and the prosecutor's closing argument in a courtroom. The jurors had not simply been told that Judge Smith had been convicted in a prior related case; they had actually considered for themselves whether Smith was a participant in the very conspiracy and substantive racketeering offense for which he was now on trial. Because Smith was such an integral part of the case at bar, it was impossible to cleanse the jury box of bias after three codefendants had been convicted. The jury which convicted Judge Smith was a jury predisposed to find guilt; after convicting defendants Harrell, Riggs and Stratton, the jury was virtually bound to convict defendant Smith. 24 40 When the trial judge decided to adopt the unprecedented bifurcated trial procedure in the case at bar, he was undoubtedly motivated by sincere considerations of fairness and judicial efficiency. 25 But noble motivations do not excuse constitutional error. The novel procedure adopted by the trial court emphasized interests of efficiency at the expense of defendant Smith's right to a fair trial. The trial court's effort to avoid retrying Judge Smith before a new jury, or possibly continuing the entire case until Smith was able to return, requires us to reverse Smith's conviction and remand for a new trial. 41 Additionally, our careful review of the record in this case convinces us that the absence of Judge Smith prejudiced the effective presentation of the remaining coconspirators' defenses. Because Smith was such a central figure in the conspiracy, allowing the government to try Smith in absentia abridged not only Smith's rights, but, under the facts of the case at bar, also abridged the rights of his coconspirators. The entire trial was thus tainted by the bifurcated trial procedure adopted in this case. Although the issue is a close one, we think that under the unique circumstances of this case, the conviction of defendant Riggs must therefore be reversed and remanded along with the convictions of his codefendants. 26 42 The reversal of defendant Riggs' conviction is based solely upon the unique facts in the record of this case. The presentation of evidence on defendant Smith's guilt in the absence of Smith and his counsel tainted the entire proceeding since Smith was the central figure in the conspiracy. However, this holding should in no way be read to imply that co-conspirators must be tried together or that the central figure in a conspiracy must testify before a co-conspirator can be convicted. We only hold that under the facts in the case at bar, the presentation of evidence bearing upon the guilt of defendant Smith without the presence of Smith of his counsel prejudiced the case of all defendants.