Opinion ID: 1959182
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Juror Should Have Been Excused Because of Inflexible Belief in Death Penalty

Text: Finally, defendant raises the issue that one juror should not have been seated because he expressed an inflexible belief in the imposition of the death penalty. Because of the importance of a fair jury in the capital sentencing context we consider that issue even though defendant did not object to the seating of that juror during voir dire. From the record, it appears that he initially stated a seemingly-unequivocal belief in the death penalty. After being questioned further, however, he expressed the view that he would be able to consider imposing a life term instead of the death penalty, depending on his examination of the aggravating and mitigating factors. Defense counsel did not object to the seating of this juror. We do not believe that his statements indicate that he would have automatically imposed the death penalty, see Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 20 L.Ed. 2d 776 (1968), or that this juror's views impaired his ability to serve. See Wainwright v. Witt, 469 U.S. 412, 105 S.Ct. 844, 83 L.Ed. 2d 841 (1985); Adams v. Texas, 448 U.S. 38, 100 S.Ct. 2521, 65 L.Ed. 2d 581 (1980).