Opinion ID: 2590108
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Missing juror questionnaires

Text: As already noted, prior to voir dire the prospective jurors completed questionnaires, which included questions relating to their views concerning the death penalty. During jury selection, defense counsel objected that the prosecutor was exercising peremptory challenges in violation of People v. Wheeler (1978) 22 Cal.3d 258, 276-277, 148 Cal.Rptr. 890, 583 P.2d 748, and Batson v. Kentucky (1986) 476 U.S. 79, 89, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69. In responding to the trial court's finding of a prima facie showing of impermissible exclusion, the prosecutor referred in part to answers contained in the questionnaires as the basis for exercising peremptory challenges with respect to the prospective jurors at issue. During the process of record correction and certification, however, the trial court determined that all juror questionnaires had been lost except those of the jurors actually empaneled, and further found that it was not possible to reconstruct this aspect of the record for a settled statement. Defendant now contends the loss of the juror questionnaires prejudiced his ability to obtain meaningful appellate review of the trial court's rulings relating to his Wheeler-Batson claim. Unfortunately, this is not the first occasion before us in which juror questionnaires have not been preserved for inclusion in the record on appeal. (See People v. Ayala (2000) 24 Cal.4th 243, 269, 99 Cal.Rptr.2d 532, 6 P.3d 193; People v. Alvarez (1996) 14 Cal.4th 155, 196, fn. 8, 58 Cal.Rptr.2d 385, 926 P.2d 365, both capital cases.) We caution that because of the requirement that all such documents be made part of the record in capital cases (see Cal. Rules of Court, rule 39.51 [specifying that juror questionnaires of all potential jurors shall be included within the clerk's transcript in capital cases]; see also id., former rule 39.5(c) [generally requiring inclusion of any other paper or record filed or lodged with the superior court pertaining to the case]), all juror questionnaires must be scrupulously maintained in such cases. Nevertheless, we find no basis for concluding that the loss of the juror questionnaires requires or warrants reversal of the judgment in this case. A criminal defendant is ... entitled to a record on appeal that is adequate to permit meaningful review.... The record on appeal is inadequate, however, only if the complained-of deficiency is prejudicial to the defendant's ability to prosecute his appeal. [Citation.] It is the defendant's burden to show prejudice of this sort. [Citation.] ( People v. Alvarez, supra, 14 Cal.4th at p. 196, fn. 8, 58 Cal.Rptr.2d 385, 926 P.2d 365.) As in Alvarez and People v. Ayala, supra, 24 Cal.4th 243, 99 Cal.Rptr.2d 532, 6 P.3d 193, defendant has failed to do so here. In advancing this issue, defendant does not present any substantive objection to the trial court's rejection of his Wheeler-Batson claim as to any particular prospective juror, but rather contends that it is impossible, without all the juror questionnaires, to obtain meaningful review of the trial court's Wheeler-Batson rulings. He proffers three reasons to support this contention, none of which is meritorious. First, he asserts that it is impossible to know the race of the excluded prospective jurors because that information was contained in the missing questionnaires and was not made part of the record during jury selection. However, after some discussion concerning which prospective jurors were Black and therefore included in the Wheeler-Batson claim, the prosecutor specified those potential jurors she understood were at issue and provided race-neutral explanations for her exercise of peremptory challenges to these jurors. Defense counsel at no time indicated that the excusal of any additional prospective jurors should be addressed. Under these circumstances, defendant may not properly maintain on appeal that the record does not adequately disclose the prospective jurors who were the subject of the Wheeler-Batson claim. Second, defendant notes the prosecutor referred to the questionnaires in responding to the trial court's finding of a prima facie case. Without the actual documents, he implies, it is not possible to obtain adequate review of the justifications put forth by the prosecutor. As with the racial identification information, however, the record contains no contradiction from defense counsel or the court as to the prosecutor's representation of the contents of the juror questionnaires that led her to excuse the prospective jurors in question. Although defense counsel justifiably could assume that the questionnaires ultimately would become part of the record on appeal, this circumstance did not relieve counsel of the obligation to bring to the trial court's attention any disagreement with the prosecutor's representations as to the content of the questionnaires. (Cf. People v. Vera (1997) 15 Cal.4th 269, 275-276, 62 Cal.Rptr.2d 754, 934 P.2d 1279 [as a general rule, the failure to object in trial court waives claim of error on appeal].) In this regard, [b]oth Wheeler and Batson profess confidence in the ability of the trial courts to determine the sufficiency of the prosecutor's showing. In Wheeler, we said that we will `rely on the good judgment of the trial courts to distinguish bona fide reasons for such peremptories from sham excuses belatedly contrived to avoid admitting acts of group discrimination.' [Citation.] The court indicated likewise in Batson. [Citation.] The trial court, however, must make `a sincere and reasoned attempt to evaluate the prosecutor's explanation in light of the circumstances of the case as then known, his knowledge of trial techniques, and his observations of the manner in which the prosecutor has examined members of the venire and has exercised challenges for cause or peremptorily....' [Citation.] ( People v. Johnson (1989) 47 Cal.3d 1194, 1216, 255 Cal.Rptr. 569, 767 P.2d 1047.) The record reflects the trial court made such an attempt in passing on the prosecutor's justifications. In the absence of any indication from defense counsel at the time of the trial court's ruling that the prosecutor was misrepresenting the contents of the questionnaires upon which the prosecutor relied, we have no reason to question the trial court's acceptance of the prosecutor's race-neutral explanations as genuine. Finally, defendant contends the questionnaires are necessary to enable this court to compare the voir dire of those prospective jurors who were excused by the prosecutor in alleged violation of Wheeler-Batson with the prosecutor's exercise or nonexercise of peremptory challenges as to other prospective jurors. We recently addressed the subject of employing ing comparative juror analysis in the Wheeler-Batson context. ( People v. Johnson (2003) 30 Cal.4th 1302, 1318-1325, 71 P.3d 270.) After thorough consideration of both our own precedents and federal authority, including Miller-El v. Cockrell (2003) 537 U.S. 322, 123 S.Ct. 1029, 154 L.Ed.2d 931, we held in Johnson that engaging in comparative juror analysis for the first time on appeal is unreliable and inconsistent with the deference reviewing courts necessarily give to trial courts.... ( Johnson, supra, 30 Cal.4th at p. 1318, 71 P.3d 270.) Although the trial court and the objecting party may rely at trial on comparative juror analysis in evaluating whether a prima facie case has been established and whether the prosecutor's proffered reasons are legitimate and genuine ( id. at pp. 1324-1325, 71 P.3d 270), in the absence of any reliance upon comparative juror analysis in the trial court it is inappropriate for a reviewing court to second-guess Wheeler-Batson rulings on that basis. ( Ibid.; see also id. at p. 1331, 1 Cal.Rptr.3d 1, 71 P.3d 270 (dis. opn. of Kennard, J.).) Here, neither the trial court nor defense counsel engaged in any comparative juror analysis at trial, and thus defendant may not raise this claim on appeal. Accordingly, defendant has failed to demonstrate that he suffered prejudice as the result of the trial court's preservation of only those questionnaires of the individuals who actually were selected to serve as jurors.