Opinion ID: 1450597
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Right to an Impartial Jury Refusal to Dismiss Prospective Jurors for Cause

Text: Beuke argues that the state trial court violated his right to an impartial jury by denying his request to strike four prospective jurors for cause. Beuke requested that the court remove the first of these prospective jurors, the wife of one police officer and the mother of another, because her voir dire testimony indicated that she believed a criminal defendant probably did something in order to be charged with a crime and that she had a tendency to side with the prosecution and law enforcement over a defendant. When pressed further, however, this woman stated that she could be an impartial juror and acknowledged that she would follow the court's instructions and put aside her tendencies to agree with law enforcement rather than with a suspected criminal. Beuke requested the removal of the second candidate because she stated that if Beuke was convicted, she would vote for capital punishment in order to ensure that he would not get parole. But when questioned by the judge, she repeatedly indicated that she would be a fair and impartial juror who followed the court's instructions. Beuke requested that the third candidate be removed for cause because of her statement that she would disregard the court's instructions and vote for the death penalty based upon her belief that any person who intentionally takes the life of another forfeits his own right to live. Upon further questioning, however, she indicated that she would follow the court's instructions in recommending the defendant's sentence. Beuke asked the court to remove the fourth candidate because she expressed her belief that Beuke must have done something if the prosecutor was bringing these charges against him; but when questioned by the court, she too acknowledged that she would follow the court's instructions and apply the presumption of innocence. After the court refused to dismiss these four candidates for cause, the prosecution used one of its peremptory challenges to excuse the first, and Beuke used three of his twelve peremptory challenges to remove the other three. Beuke contends that the trial court violated his right to an impartial jury because the court's denial of his request to remove these four prospective jurors for cause forced him to use valuable peremptory challenges to remove them. Even if we were to assume that the trial court should have dismissed these jurors for cause  a conclusion that is severely belied by the record and applicable case law, see Miller v. Francis, 269 F.3d 609, 618-19 (6th Cir.2001) (holding that the trial court cannot be faulted for not disqualifying for cause a juror who consistently says that she thinks she can be fair)  there is no legal basis for Beuke's impartial jury claim. Any claim that the jury was not impartial . . . must focus . . . on the jurors who ultimately sat on the jury, not on those dismissed through peremptory challenges. Ross v. Oklahoma, 487 U.S. 81, 86, 108 S.Ct. 2273, 101 L.Ed.2d 80 (1988). Beuke does not challenge the impartiality of any juror who actually sat on the empaneled jury, but only of four prospective jurors who were dismissed through peremptory challenges. Thus, Beuke's only alleged injury is the loss of his peremptory challenges, and it is well settled that the loss of a peremptory challenge does not violate a defendant's constitutional right to an impartial jury because peremptory challenges are not of constitutional dimension. Id. at 88, 108 S.Ct. 2273 (citing Gray v. Mississippi, 481 U.S. 648, 663, 107 S.Ct. 2045, 95 L.Ed.2d 622 (1987)); accord United States v. Martinez-Salazar, 528 U.S. 304, 311, 120 S.Ct. 774, 145 L.Ed.2d 792 (2000). We accordingly reject Beuke's challenge to the trial court's denial of his request to dismiss prospective jurors for cause because he cured this alleged error when he removed those jurors with his peremptory challenges. See Ross, 487 U.S. at 88, 108 S.Ct. 2273; Bowling v. Parker, 344 F.3d 487, 521 (6th Cir.2003).