Opinion ID: 1759877
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Whether the trial court erred by striking prospective jurors

Text: ¶ 75. Scott next argues that the trial court erred by not striking jurors 7, 15, 68 and 74. According to Scott these four jurors stated that they could not conform their conduct to the law and would automatically return a verdict of death. Scott claims that the jurors should be excluded pursuant to Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 20 L.Ed.2d 776 (1968) and its progeny. He claims that counsel was denied a meaningful opportunity to ask substantive questions (i.e., their view of the death penalty) of the venire panel. ¶ 76. This Court finds that none of these four jurors actually served as part of the jury. Scott struck jurors 7, 15, and 68 as part of his peremptory challenges. The record reflects that the defense exercised its peremptory strikes as follows: D-1 struck juror 7, D-3 struck juror 15, and the alternate strike DA-3 struck juror 68. As for juror 74, the last possible juror seated was alternate juror 71, therefore, juror 74 was not even considered for jury service. The record reflects the prosecution, clarifying the alternates for the jury, stated to the trial court [a]nd the alternates, Your Honor, that will be 59, 62, 69 and 71. The trial court then immediately stated All right. We'll impanel the jury without swearing them in and release the other jurors for the week.... Thus, juror 74 was not part of the impaneled jury. ¶ 77. Notwithstanding that none of the jurors in question were part of the impaneled jury, all of these jurors stated that they could set aside there opinions and follow the law in the case. The trial court posed the following questions with the juror answers: The Court: All right. Now let me ask you my ultimate questions. If you're a member of the jury that returns a verdict of guilty of capital murder in the guilt phase, part one, would you automatically vote for the death penalty, even if the mitigating facts and circumstances justified a life sentence, and the law given to you by the Court allowed a life sentence to be returned by the jury? Would you automatically vote death, or would you enter in to this weighing process, weighing the aggravating factors against the mitigating factors? Could you follow the law and first do this weighing thing? (JURORS RESPOND IN THE AFFIRMATIVE) The Court: Can anybody not do that? (NO RESPONSE FROM THE JURORS) The Court: If you can find, if you can't find, I just want to know. Juror No. 7: I can. Juror No. 68: I can. Juror No. 15: I can. Juror No. 74: I don't know whether I can, because it's kind of a toss up there. They've already presented the facts and they're just reviewing the facts again. After some further discussions with juror 74 on the process, the juror stated that he could consider aggravating and mitigating factors before making a decision on whether the defendant should receive the death penalty. Following the trial courts questions, the prosecution and defense conducted individual voir dire on these four jurors. The prosecution asked generally if the jurors could consider all the evidence and consider mitigating and aggravating factors before making a decision. The defense then individually voir dired each juror. Each juror indicated that they would not automatically impose the death penalty without first considering and weighing the mitigating and aggravating factors. At the conclusion of this questioning by the trial court, the prosecution and the defense, the trial court ruled: Okay. The court finds that after the Court further advised the  these four jurors and after they, therefore, became more informed, they were, in fact, rehabilitated, and they shall not be stricken for cause. ¶ 78. This Court in Simmons v. State, 805 So.2d 452, 503 (Miss.2001), considered an issue similar to Scott's complaint raised on appeal. In Simmons, this Court first addressed the fact that Simmons had not used all his peremptory challenges and none of the jurors actually sat on his jury. Our settled rule requires that, before an appellant may challenge a trial court's refusal to excuse a juror for cause, he must show that he utilized all of his peremptory challenges. Simmons, 805 So.2d at 503 (citing Hansen v. State, 592 So.2d 114, 129 (Miss.1991)). The Court also considered the jurors statements that they could follow the law and put aside their personal views on the death penalty. The Court stated: Further, each juror testified that they could put aside their personal views about the death penalty and follow the law in regard to Simmons' case. It appears that, by this admission, they rehabilitated themselves. This language of putting aside personal beliefs was approved in the following passage of Leatherwood v. State: The two veniremen, Robert Nations and Mary Garrett, indicated that they had strong views in favor of the death penalty. After the court overruled appellant's challenge to the jurors, appellant used two of his peremptory challenges to strike them. We have carefully considered the questions propounded to and responses of Nations and Garrett and are of the opinion that the trial court's ruling was in full compliance with Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 20 L.Ed.2d 776 (1968). When questioned by counsel both jurors said that they could put aside their personal feelings, follow the law and instructions of the court and return a verdict based solely upon the law and the evidence and not vote for the death penalty unless the evidence warranted it. Leatherwood v. State, 435 So.2d 645, 654 (Miss.1983). The trial court cannot be said to have erred by following this language. Simmons, 805 So.2d at 503 (emphasis added). Simmons also complained about individualized voir dire for prospective jurors that were in favor of the death penalty, to which this Court held: [V]oir dire `is conducted under the supervision of the court, and a great deal must, of necessity, be left to its sound discretion.' Ballenger v. State, 667 So.2d 1242, 1250 (Miss.1995). This Court has directed the trial court to take a substantial role in conducting Witherspoon voir dire of potential jurors in capital cases. Ballenger, 667 So.2d at 1250. There is no error here. Simmons, 805 So.2d at 503. ¶ 79. This Court finds that the trial court did not err by denying strikes for cause on jurors 7, 15, 68, and 74. The prospective jurors all stated that they could follow the law and weigh the evidence and mitigating and aggravating factors before making a determination of whether Scott should receive the death penalty. The record is full of questions from the trial court, the State, and the defense concerning the death penalty. The four jurors in question also appeared in the trial judge's chambers and were questioned more extensively by the trial court, prosecution and defense. The record reflects that the defense individually questioned each of the four jurors in chambers. The trial judge placed no restrictions on the attorneys' questions in chambers. Lastly, we find that none of the jurors ever sat on the final impaneled jury, and thus, never even voted on the issue of Scott's guilt or whether he should receive a death or life sentence. This Court finds that this issue is without merit.