Opinion ID: 852371
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Absence of Statutory Written Petit Jury Selection Plan

Text: The defendant contends that Clay County, from which his jurors were drawn, failed to meet the statutory requirements for a written plan for selecting the venire for petit juries and that this failure, notwithstanding the otherwise proper selection of his jury, requires that his sentence be set aside. Minor irregularities in the jury selection process do not normally constitute reversible error absent a showing of substantial prejudice to the defendant's rights. Azania v. State, 778 N.E.2d 1253, 1257 (Ind.2002), superceded on other grounds, State v. Azania, 875 N.E.2d 701 (Ind.2007); accord Wells v. State, 848 N.E.2d 1133, 1141 (Ind.Ct.App.2006), cert. denied, 549 U.S. 1322, 127 S.Ct. 1913, 167 L.Ed.2d 567 (2007). We have recognized, however, that absent substantial compliance with the statute, the accused need not show actual prejudice. Azania, 778 N.E.2d at 1257. Chapter 5 of Title 33, Article 28 and Indiana Jury Rules 2 through 9 specify detailed procedures for jury selection and service. Among these, one statutory provision requires the jury commissioner, under a judge's supervision, to prepare a written plan for selecting grand and petit jurors, which plan must be approved by the county's judges and maintained on file for public inspection. Ind.Code § 33-28-5-12. [5] The exclusive means by which a defendant may challenge a jury on the ground that it was not selected in conformity with any of the requirements of Chapter 5 are detailed in Indiana Code § 33-28-5-21. This section permits the trial court in a criminal case to stay the proceedings, dismiss an indictment, or grant other appropriate relief. But before granting any such relief, the trial court must determine that in selecting either a grand jury or a petit jury there has been a substantial failure to comply with this chapter. Id. (emphasis added). The defendant timely challenged the absence of a written plan, and the trial court conducted a hearing. The Clay County Clerk testified that all procedures were followed in the selection of potential jurors. Tr. at 1085. The Clerk explained that the jury panel is collected from a compact disc provided to her by the Indiana Supreme Court Division of State Court Administration. Names on the disc come from the Indiana Bureau of Revenue and the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles, and these names are then purged of duplicates, people under 18, and deceased persons. [6] With this disc, the Clerk used a commercial jury management system to formulate the jury pool by randomly selecting names from the master list. Following the Clerk's testimony, the trial court denied the defendant's motion premised on the failure to establish and file a written plan. On appeal, the defendant argues that because a juror selection plan was neither prepared, approved by any Clay County judge, submitted to the jury commissioner, nor filed as a public document in the office of the Clay Circuit Court, the resulting complete failure to abide by the statutory requirement for a plan should be deemed substantial non-compliance and that prejudice should be presumed. Other than the lack of a formal written and filed plan, the defendant does not claim any irregularities in the selection and composition of the petit jury venire in his case. In other words, he does not point to any procedural detail that such a written plan might provide that is not already covered by the other statutory provisions or the Indiana Jury Rules. He does not question that the venire was prepared in exact compliance with all other statutory provisions and the Indiana Jury Rules, the specifics of which obviate and supplant the function of the statutory requirement for a written plan. The defendant has not established substantial non-compliance with the requirements for the selection of the petit jury venire. He is not entitled to relief on this issue.