Opinion ID: 1293219
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Improper Death Qualification

Text: (29) Defendant contends the judgment should be reversed because the court gave each juror copies of the proposed death qualification voir dire questions prior to individual questioning. He asserts this violated our decision in Hovey v. Superior Court (1980) 28 Cal.3d 1, 80 [168 Cal. Rptr. 128, 616 P.2d 1301], in which we explained that death qualification of a jury panel in open court could desensitize the jury to its sentencing responsibility. (See also Balderas, supra, 41 Cal.3d 144.) Defendant argues that by allowing the jurors to review the voir dire questions in advance, the court erroneously permitted potential jurors to discover a pretext on which they could be excused or, conversely, on which they could serve as a panel member while harboring a predisposition to automatically vote for death. Defendant concedes that, unlike the Hovey v. Superior Court and Balderas jurors, the jurors in this case were sequestered and individually questioned during the death qualification process. Nonetheless, defendant asserts the prejudicial effect of allowing the potential jurors advance notice of the voir dire questions is analogous to conducting voir dire in an open courtroom with the entire jury panel present. We disapproved such a procedure in Hovey v. Superior Court, supra, 28 Cal.3d 1, in favor of sequestered voir dire in order to minimize each juror's exposure to the death-qualifying voir dire of others. ( Id. at p. 81.) After swearing in the jury panel, the court here explained the decisionmaking process to the panelists: It stated that if defendant was convicted of first degree murder and the special circumstance was found true, the jury would then decide penalty. Next, the court noted that it was required to ascertain if there are any prospective jurors who entertain such a conscientious opinion regarding the death penalty that would preclude his finding the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree if the evidence should justify such a finding and/or would preclude his or her finding of the truthfulness as to one or all of the special circumstances alleged if the evidence should justify such a finding or findings and/or if the juror, because of his conscientious objection to the death penalty would, under no circumstances, vote for a verdict of death. The court then explained, The converse of that, that is, do we have any prospective juror who has such a conscientious opinion regarding the two possible verdicts that he would automatically and in every case vote for a verdict of death and under no circumstances vote for a verdict of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. If you entertain any such conscientious opinion, the law provides that you will not be permitted or compelled to serve as a juror in this case. The court then read the panel the four questions each of them would be asked during sequestered questioning. We are not persuaded that the advance notice to the jury of the death qualification questions caused it to become death prone. Moreover, defendant has cited no evidence or persuasive logic suggesting that a court could induce guilt or death-prone bias simply by giving prospective jurors advance notice of the voir dire questions. Nor has he cited evidence indicating the jurors ignored the court's instructions to refrain from discussing the case outside the courtroom. We conclude there is no reasonable possibility the jury was so bombarded with death penalty questions and instructions as to impair its impartiality. Finally, the court consistently advised the individually questioned sequestered jurors that the penalty phase would not be reached unless defendant was first found guilty of first degree murder with special circumstances. The court also stated that the penalty determination, if one was necessary, would be in the jury's discretion. The court's voir dire questions were similarly framed. As discussed in Hovey v. Superior Court, supra, 28 Cal.3d at page 80, the purpose of individualized sequestered voir dire is to minimize the potentially prejudicial effects of exposing jurors to excessive pretrial discussion and questioning about the penalty phase. Specifically, a reduction in the pretrial emphasis on penalty should minimize the tendency of a death-qualified jury to presume guilt and expect conviction. ( Ibid. ) By questioning prospective jurors individually, the court prevented them from being improperly influenced by their fellow panelists. ( Id. at p. 74.) Accordingly, we find no reasonable possibility that reading the court's questions in advance prejudiced the jury's impartiality under these facts. ( Balderas, supra, 41 Cal.3d 144, 191.)