Opinion ID: 1816335
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Did the failure to report the voir dire of prospective jurors violate the defendant's right to due process

Text: The defendant makes no assertion that there was difficulty in drawing a jury or that anything transpired during the course of the voir dire that would show prejudice. He merely relies on the blanket assertion that, since there was no transcription of the voir dire, that in itself should be evidence of lack of due process, since an appellate court cannot then make a determination of whether pretrial publicity had so infected the jurors as to make a fair trial impossible. In State v. Kramer, supra , we considered this identical problem in regard to a voir dire. In Kramer, also, the voir dire was not reported, and the claim was made that, even in the absence  of a request by counsel, it was the obligation of the trial judge sua sponte to direct the reporting of the examination of the jurors. We pointed out in Kramer, supra, page 34, that, since there was no demand at the time of trial that the voir dire be reported, exception to the judge's failure to order its reporting cannot be made on appeal. Since the trial of the instant case, the statutes have been amended (sec. 256.55 (3), Stats.) to provide that voir dire examinations in any civil or criminal action need not be reported unless ordered by the court. We pointed out in Kramer, however, that, even in the absence of statutory authority, the trial judge had the inherent power to order the reporting of a voir dire and, in the absence of a request for the court to order a reporting, a defendant cannot make a claim of error.