Opinion ID: 1439532
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Venireperson M.B.

Text: Like C.W., it appears that African-American venireperson M.B. would have been a strong juror for the State. She expressed confidence in the ability of fingerprint evidence to show guilt. Since the defendant had given notice of an alibi defense, M.B.'s belief in the accuracy of fingerprint evidence would have served the State well. Also, like C.W., M.B. had a family member who had been shot to death. However, despite these facts, the State struck M.B. citing the following four reasons: (1) she had problems with the concept of acting in concert, (2) she was familiar with the area of the crime, (3) she knew a relative of a potential witness, and (4) she had an unrealistic view of scientific evidence. First, the State argues that it struck M.B. because she had problems with the concept of acting in concert. However, there is no support for this position. Although other venirepersons had expressed difficulty with the concept, M.B. never did. Second, the State claims that M.B. was familiar with the area of the crime. However, as noted above, five white venirepersons also possessed familiarity with the area of the crime and were not struck from the jury. Third, the State asserts that it struck M.B. because she knew a relative of a potential witness. M.B. indicated that her niece had dated someone with the same last name as one of the witnesses, but that she did not know any family members of the man her niece had dated. The prosecutor stated that he removed M.B. because she knew the witness's family and her close involvement with the family could be a problem. However, M.B. did not know the witness and was not even asked how well she knew the man her niece had dated. Additionally, because this loose connection was to a witness for the State, any bias would arguably be in favor of the State. Finally, the State contends that it struck M.B. because she had an unrealistic view of scientific evidence. M.B. had indicated that she was a medical laboratory technologist who worked full time for the crime laboratory in St. Louis County. She indicated that she did not personally do any testing and she did not have contact with people who did. She stated, If you are going to [commit a crime], you are going to get caught with the technology that they have today. While M.B.'s confidence in forensic evidence may be high, such a belief would only strengthen the credibility of the State's fingerprint evidence linking McFadden to the crime. In addition, the State failed to strike white juror L.S. who also had exposure to police laboratory work. L.S.'s boss worked with the Missouri State Highway Patrol to create standards for laboratory testing and prepare training aids for drug sniffing dogs. L.S. would meet with police officers for the dogs to test the products. He had discussed with police officers interesting kind of gruesome stories in the federal lab but not police work in general. Because of M.B.'s certainty that fingerprint evidence would determine guilt, she was a stronger juror for the State than L.S.