Opinion ID: 1730477
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 17

Heading: the trial court erred in denying the defendant's request for individual sequestered voir dire.

Text: Carr claims the trial court's refusal to allow individual sequestered voir dire of the entire venire constitutes reversible error. He argues that individualized sequestered voir dire was a necessity due to the amount of pre-trial publicity. The manner in which voir dire in criminal cases will be conducted is governed by Rule 5.02 of the Mississippi Uniform Criminal Rules of Circuit Court Practice which provides: In the voir dire examination of jurors, the attorney shall direct to the entire venire questions only on matters not inquired into by the court. Individual jurors may be examined only when proper to inquire as to answers given or for other good cause allowed by the court. No hypothetical questions requiring any juror to pledge a particular verdict will be asked. This Court has held that Rule 5.02 allows a circuit court, in its own discretion, to utilize individualized, sequestered voir dire. Russell v. State, 607 So.2d 1107, 1110 (Miss. 1992); Hansen v. State, 592 So.2d 114, 126 (Miss. 1991). However, this Court has further held that Rule 5.02 does not require more than what it states on its face. Russell, 607 So.2d at 1110; Hansen, 592 So.2d at 126; White v. State, 532 So.2d 1207, 1218 (Miss. 1987); West v. State, 463 So.2d 1048, 1054 (Miss. 1985). The trial court in the case sub judice did not abuse the discretion awarded it by Rule 5.02. The trial court requested counsel to work together to come up with a jury questionaire. In fact the court expressed the hope that the defense's desire for an individually sequestered voir dire could be met to some extent by the jury questionaire. When the motion for an individualized, sequestered voir dire was heard, the trial court did not rule against it completely, but rather stated that individualized, sequestered voir dire would only be utilized where necessary, such as with embarrassing matters or those which might tend to prejudice a juror. The United States Supreme Court rejected a similar argument in Mu'Min v. Virginia, 500 U.S. 415, 111 S.Ct. 1899, 114 L.Ed.2d 493 (1991). In Mu'Min, the petitioner was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. There was substantial publicity regarding the case. Eight of the twelve venire persons sworn as jurors had answered during voir dire that they had read or heard something about the case. None of those eight indicated that they had formed an opinion about the case, or that what they had heard or read would affect their ability to perform their duties based solely on the evidence presented at trial. The petitioner contended that his Sixth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment rights had been violated when the trial court refused to question the prospective jurors further about the specific contents of what they had read or heard. The trial court denied petitioner's motion for individual voir dire, but stated that it would begin with collective questioning and would break the venire down into panels of four to deal with the issue of publicity if it became necessary. The United States Supreme Court held that questions pertaining to the content of pretrial publicity to which a juror had been exposed is not constitutionally required. The Court said that such questions are constitutionally required only if the trial court's failure to ask such questions renders the defendant's trial fundamentally unfair. Mu'Min, 500 U.S. at 425-426, 111 S.Ct. at 1905, 114 L.Ed.2d at 506. The Court went on to stress the wide discretion trial courts enjoy in conducting voir dire with respect to the issue of pretrial publicity. Mu'Min, 500 U.S. at 427, 111 S.Ct. at 1906, 114 L.Ed.2d at 507. Voir dire in the case sub judice was by no means perfunctory. The trial court asked the collective venire about the effect of pretrial publicity or information received about the case. There was no response from the jurors. The court later asked if there was any reason that a juror felt that he or she could not be a fair and impartial juror. Any venire person who responded affirmatively was questioned individually in chambers, and those who stated that they had already formed an opinion in the case were excused. We find no abuse of discretion in the trial court's refusal to grant Carr's motion for individual sequestered voir dire. There is no merit to this assignment of error.