Opinion ID: 874771
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Biased Jury

Text: Mr. Ellington argues that the district court erroneously denied his motion for mistrial during voir dire because the opinions expressed by three potential jurors that they believed Mr. Ellington was guilty impermissibly biased the rest of the jurors, depriving Mr. Ellington of a fair trial.
A mistrial may be declared upon motion of the defendant, when there occurs during the trial an error or legal defect in the proceedings, or conduct inside or outside the courtroom, which is prejudicial to the defendant and deprives the defendant of a fair trial. I.C.R. 29.1(a). The standard of review of a denial of a motion for mistrial is well-settled: [T]he question on appeal is not whether the trial judge reasonably exercised his discretion in light of circumstances existing when the mistrial motion was made. Rather, the question must be whether the event which precipitated the motion for mistrial represented reversible error when viewed in the context of the full record. Thus, where a motion for mistrial has been denied in a criminal case, the abuse of discretion standard is a misnomer. The standard, more accurately stated, is one of reversible error. Our focus is upon the continuing impact on the trial of the incident that triggered the mistrial motion. The trial judge's refusal to declare a mistrial will be disturbed only if that incident, viewed retrospectively, constituted reversible error. State v. Field, 144 Idaho 559, 571, 165 P.3d 273, 285 (2007).
Mr. Ellington contends that his motion for mistrial should have been granted because his due-process rights were violated when three prospective jurors tainted the entire panel of prospective jurors by expressing their preconceived views ... that Mr. Ellington was guilty of the charged offenses. He also contends that some of the actual jurors that deliberated were not neutral, evidencing the prejudice that the prospective jurors had on the actual panel. We find that there was no error because Mr. Ellington's due-process rights were not violated. During voir dire, the judge asked the pool of jurors if any of them had formed an opinion that Mr. Ellington was guilty. Mr. Ellington argues that the responses of the following three jurors prejudiced the entire pool. First, prospective juror Ron Dykstra stated that he had read about it in the papers and believed Mr. Ellington to be guilty. Immediately following that response the judge reiterated that the case is only to be decided on the evidence within the courtroom, and after Mr. Dykstra stated that he could not do so, the court excused him for cause. Next, prospective juror Jessica Welk stated that she had a conversation with a member of the Larsen family the day after the incident and she was on her side of him being guilty. The judge stated that he did not want to engage in any factual details of the conversation, and once again reiterated that the case must be decided only on the evidence presented in the courtroom. After Ms. Welk stated that she could not be fair, she was excused for cause by the court. Finally, prospective juror Mark Felder stated that he had already formed an opinion based on the news he had read in the papers and seen on television such that he could not give Mr. Ellington a fair trial. The judge again reiterated the importance of deciding the case based on what happens inside the courtroom and not what happens outside, after which Mr. Felder stated that he could try to do so. Mr. Felder was not selected for the final jury. [12] A criminal defendant has a constitutional right to trial by an impartial jury. U.S. Const. amends. V, VI, XIV; Idaho Const. art. 1, §§ 7, 13. However, even a juror's expression of his own opinion of the case during voir dire does not render him partial. A juror is presumed to be impartial. [T]he Constitution presupposes that a jury selected from a fair cross section of the community is impartial, regardless of the mix of individual viewpoints actually represented on the jury, so long as the jurors can conscientiously and properly carry out their sworn duty to apply the law to the facts of the particular case. Ross v. Oklahoma, 487 U.S. 81, 86, 108 S.Ct. 2273, 2277, 101 L.Ed.2d 80, 88 (1988) (quoting Lockhart v. McCree, 476 U.S. 162, 184, 106 S.Ct. 1758, 1770, 90 L.Ed.2d 137, 154-55 (1986)). This Court has agreed: The trial court does not need to find jurors that are entirely ignorant of the facts and issues involved in the case. To hold that the mere existence of any preconceived notion as to the guilt or innocence of an accused, without more, is sufficient to rebut the presumption of a prospective juror's impartiality would be to establish an impossible standard. It is sufficient if the juror can lay aside his impression or opinion and render a verdict based on the evidence presented in court. State v. Hairston, 133 Idaho 496, 506, 988 P.2d 1170, 1180 (1999) (internal citations and quotations omitted); see also State v. Yager, 139 Idaho 680, 688, 85 P.3d 656, 664 (2004). None of the jurors who expressed the opinions on Mr. Ellington's guilt that are at issue on appeal actually sat on the jury. At worst, the jurors who actually deliberated received a second-hand opinion from those three prospective jurors that Mr. Ellington was guilty. They did not receive any specific facts as to why, other than that the prospective jurors read about it in the paper and in one instance interacted with a member of the Larsen family. [13] The impaneled jurors were instructed at the end of voir dire that they were to decide the case only based on the evidence presented in the courtroom. They were again instructed of this duty before their deliberations. Under the U.S. Supreme Court's and this Court's case law, Mr. Ellington has not overcome the presumption that the jury was impartial. [14] Where a defendant does not allege or cannot demonstrate that a member of his or her jury was biased or prejudiced, a due process challenge must fail. State v. Santana, 135 Idaho 58, 64, 14 P.3d 378, 384 (2000). The only allegation Mr. Ellington provides to show that an actual member of the jury was biased is that two jurors came forward during the trial and expressed concerns to the court. Once again, those two jurors, one whose mother-in-law worked at the physical-therapy clinic where Jovon was receiving treatment and one who was receiving treatment at that same physical-therapy clinic assured the court that they had not discussed the case at all outside the courtroom, and reiterated that they would be able to be fair and impartial in continuing to sit on the jury. Although not always dispositive, the trial judge is entitled to rely on assurances from venire persons concerning partiality or bias. Yager, 139 Idaho at 688, 85 P.3d at 664. Mr. Ellington has not shown that the jurors in question were partial or biased. State v. Tolman, 121 Idaho 899, 902, 828 P.2d 1304, 1307 (1992) (trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to grant a mistrial when a juror in a molestation trial revealed during the trial that his wife was molested because the court thoroughly questioned the juror and the juror repeatedly stated he would be fair and did not think his wife's molestation would affect his judgment). Particularly within the framework of Mr. Ellington's motion for mistrial, he has not shown in any way that these actual jury members had been influenced by the three prospective jurors' statements during voir dire. This is also not a case where Mr. Ellington has shown that bias to the impaneled jury might be presumed because of the extent of publicity during the trial. See State v. Scroggins, 91 Idaho 847, 848, 433 P.2d 117, 118 (1967) (mid-trial newspaper article stating other charges filed against the defendant which was discussed in the jury room did not present the degree of publicity necessary to overcome the presumption of impartiality); see also Marshall v. United States, 360 U.S. 310, 312, 79 S.Ct. 1171, 1173, 3 L.Ed.2d 1250, 1251-52 (1959) (jury's exposure to newspaper article which was highly prejudicial to defendant necessitated new trial); Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 333, 356, 86 S.Ct. 1507, 1519, 16 L.Ed.2d 600, 616 (1966) (atmosphere of a Roman holiday for the news media, a deluge of publicity, and massive pretrial publicity necessitated new trial); Estes v. Texas, 381 U.S. 532, 543, 85 S.Ct. 1628, 1633, 14 L.Ed.2d 543, 550 (1965) (live radio and television broadcast of trial and pre-trial proceedings deprived defendant of judicial serenity and calm to which [he] was entitled); State v. Hall, 111 Idaho 827, 831, 727 P.2d 1255, 1259 (Ct.App.1986) (denial of motions for change of venue and sequestration not an abuse of discretion because prospective jurors were not incessantly exposed to news stories throughout the pretrial period and the intensity of the initial coverage was dissipated by the passage of time). Thus, Mr. Ellington has not shown that the expressions of three prospective jurors that Mr. Ellington was guilty overcome the presumption that the impaneled jurors were impartial, and to that end he cannot show a violation of his due-process rights. Because there was no error, the Court will not evaluate whether that error was harmless or reversible.