Opinion ID: 807645
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Olanders D.

Text: Olanders D. was one of two black jurors whom the prosecution struck in the first round of peremptory challenges. During the in camera hearing that followed the defense’s Batson motion, the prosecutor explained that he struck Olanders D. because: (1) he might not be able to vote for the death penalty, as he had written in his questionnaire that he did not believe in it, and he had indicated in questioning that his view had recently changed; (2) his answers to voir dire questions often were not fully responsive; (3) his questionnaire responses had been “poor”; and (4) he might lack the “ability to fit in with a cohesive group of 12 people.” The trial judge rejected one of the four proffered reasons — his purported inability “to fit in with a cohesive group of 12 people.” The presence of defense counsel, and the preservation of the questionnaires, could have permitted Ayala to call into question all three of the reasons that the court accepted as legitimate. First, in response to the prosecution’s claim that it was concerned that Olanders D. would hesitate to impose the death penalty, defense counsel could have pointed to seated white jurors who had expressed similar or greater hesitancy. One seated juror in particular was indistinguishable from Olanders D. in this regard. Olanders D. had (apparently) written in his to serve as a juror — overlapped entirely with the third reason, as George S. had explained that he wrote that the parties might not want him as a juror because he had been a civil jury “holdout.” The fifth and final reason — that he placed excessive emphasis on the Bible in his questionnaire — cannot be evaluated at all because the questionnaire has been lost, along with those of others whom the prosecutor might have passed. 10120 AYALA v. WONG questionnaire that he did not believe in the death penalty. Ana L., a seated white juror, made almost precisely the same statement in her questionnaire, writing that she “probably would not be able to vote for the death penalty.” Also, Olanders D. later said during voir dire that he had reconsidered his views, and affirmed that he could be “personally responsible for being on a jury and actually voting for the death penalty.” Once again, Ana L. said almost precisely the same thing: she stated that she had since rethought her position, and affirmed that she could “actually vote” for the death penalty.19 Second, in answer to the prosecution’s purported concern that Olanders D.’s answers on voir dire were not always fully responsive, defense counsel could have questioned the validity of this assessment, suggested that his answers were in fact fully responsive, and pointed to seated white jurors whose answers were less responsive than Olanders D.’s. Our review of the voir dire transcript reveals nothing that supports the prosecution’s claim: Olanders D.’s answers were responsive and complete. In order to make this fact clear to the trial judge, defense counsel could once again have compared Olanders D. to seated juror Ana L. Ana L. had, for example, responded “That is correct” to a question asking “why” she would prefer not to sit as a juror, stared blankly at defense counsel in response to a question on the presumption of innocence, and failed, at various points, to respond directly to yes or no questions. Third, we cannot know exactly what arguments defense counsel could have made to undermine the prosecution’s final reason for striking Olanders D. — that his questionnaire responses were “poor,” and demonstrated his inability to express himself. Because Olanders D.’s questionnaire has 19 Other seated white jurors to whom defense counsel could have pointed in order to show to be pretextual the prosecution’s stated concern that Olanders D. would not be willing to impose the death penalty include Dorothy C., Dorothea L., Dorothy H. and Leona B. See infra Section V.B.2. AYALA v. WONG 10121 been lost, we may only speculate as to its contents. If the reason his answers were “poor” was that they were not particularly detailed, the defense could have compared his questionnaire to that of Ana L., whose answers were brief and often incomplete, or to that of Charles G., a seated white juror whose responses to the 77 questions were rarely longer than two or three words apiece. If the reason his answers were poor was that they reflected an inability to think clearly or express complex thoughts, the defense could have compared his questionnaire to that of Thomas B., a seated white juror who, for example, opined of street gangs, “I feel the only media coverage they get is bad, however, those whom do constructive events usually seek out positive media coverage.” Further, this is an obvious instance in which the defense is prejudiced by being unable to compare Olanders D.’s answers to those of prospective white jurors who were accepted by the prosecution but struck by the defense, and whose questionnaires have been lost.20 It is also, of course, possible that Olanders 20 For example, Elizabeth S., who was in all likelihood white, was seated as an alternate on a panel accepted by the prosecution — which never used its sixth and final peremptory challenge in the selection of the alternate jurors — but was later struck by the defense. Her questionnaire, which was lost, might have been particularly valuable to Ayala for comparative juror analysis if her written responses were anything like those she delivered during voir dire. Consider the following exchange between the trial court and Elizabeth S.: Q: Did you have an opportunity to review the summary of legal issues and preliminary questions? This was a packet of material in the juror’s lounge. A: No. Q: You didn’t read it? A. Not today. I read the papers that they gave me in the office. Q. Today? A. Yeah. Q. Okay. That was the summary of legal issues and preliminary questions? A. Yeah, Yeah. Perhaps because of this and similar exchanges, she was later asked if she had a hearing problem, which she did not. 10122 AYALA v. WONG D.’s answers were not poor at all. We have no way of knowing. Thus, one of the four reasons given by the prosecution for striking this prospective juror was determined to be without merit by the trial judge; two failed to distinguish the juror whatsoever from at least one seated white juror; and the fourth and final reason the prosecution gave for striking the juror cannot be evaluated because his questionnaire was lost, as were those of the prospective white jurors struck by the defense. Given the objective reasons that we have even on this record to question the validity of the prosecution’s explanations for striking Olanders D., we simply cannot conclude that it is likely that, if the defense had been present during the Batson proceedings and if the lost questionnaires had been preserved, Ayala would not have been able to show that the prosecution’s stated reasons for striking Olanders D. were pretextual, and that the actual reasons were racial.