Opinion ID: 2551919
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Armida S.

Text: During the ex parte hearing, the prosecutor said he challenged S. because she worked for the Department of Social Services ... at least at one point and because she had argued with the prosecutor during the death-qualification voir dire. The prosecutor added: I asked her the same questions I was asking the other jurors about, `Could you do it? Would you do it?' And Miss [S.] backed up and started arguing with me about that. I think if you look the record up, the court will recall she and I just did not get along. We had, in fact, during [death-qualification voir dire] an argument about whether she was going to do it. She was very argumentative towards me. She was not towards [defense counsel]. That's why I excused Miss [S.] The record does not support the prosecutor's assertion that S. had worked for the Department of Social Services, although she stated on her questionnaire that one of her children did. The matter was not raised during general voir dire, at which the prosecutor declined to question S. at all. Defendant alleges that the transcript of the death-qualification voir dire fails to support the prosecutor's assertion that S. had argued with him. This is what the transcript shows: The prosecutor: [Defense counsel] was asking you about whether you would stick by your guns so to speak back there in the jury room. You understand that both [defense counsel] and myself want a decision in this matter. We're not asking you to change your mind just so that we can have a decision, but that in fact if you go back there and it's 10 to 2, 11 to 1, and you're the one, whichever way you're leaning, will you listen to the other jurors? S.: Yes, I would to a certain extent. The prosecutor: Only to a certain extent? S.: Well, yes. The prosecutor: Are you too proud to change your mind even if they S.: No. The prosecutor: Even if they show you you're wrong? S.: If they show me I'm wrong, I'm going to change my mind, yes. The prosecutor: That involves listening, that involves listening to the other jurors. S.: Yes. The prosecutor: Will you do that? S.: Yes. The prosecutor: We want a decision. And I'm not saying you're going to be hung up one way or the other. I'm just saying that let's say you go back there. Very often jurors go back into the jury room and not everybody sits down and says we think it should be this way or we think it should be that way. They're hung up at the beginning. They're decided, not hung up but decided. What we don't want you to do is get your ego involved so that you can't say, `You're right. Maybe I should change my mind.' We don't want that. We want a juror that will go back there and that will listen to both sides even though she may have made up her mind. She'll listen to both sides and then she'll, after having heard both sides, change her mind if she thinks it's warranted. Are you that type of juror? S.: I believe I am. The prosecutor: Are you a fair-minded person? S.: Yes, I am. The prosecutor: Incidentally, do you think you're an overly sympathetic person? S.: No. The prosecutor: The defense may try and prove to you that the death penalty is not warranted just on your sympathies alone and that's perfectly legal. You're allowed to do that. Do you think you're an overly sympathetic person that wouldn't give me a chance, and that would only consider sympathy and nothing else? S.: No. The prosecutor: Tell me something else. While you're considering whatever sympathy this defendant may put on before you, can you keep an open mind that you can also feel sympathy for four dead human beings if you find they died at the hands of the defendant in this matter? Will you keep this in mind also? S.: Yes. The prosecutor: And will you put that on the scale if you think it should be there? S.: Yes. The prosecutor: Ma'am, are you a strong enough personI intend to prove that death is the appropriate penalty, in this case. And if and only if I do that, are you a strong enough person to come back into this courtroom, sit down in that jury box, and look us all in the eye and pronounce that judgment. Can you do it? S.: I think so. It's The prosecutor: And will you do it if it is the right thing to do? S.: Yes. I would.