Opinion ID: 1105577
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: State Cause Challenges

Text: By unargued assignment of error, defense trial counsel challenged the trial judge's rulings allowing the state's cause challenges. A court may exclude a venireperson for cause based on his death penalty views when those views prevent or substantially impair the performance of his duties as a juror in accordance with his instructions and his oath. Wainwright v. Witt, 469 U.S. 412, 424, 105 S.Ct. 844, 852, 83 L.Ed.2d 841 (1985) (citing Adams v. Texas, 448 U.S. 38, 100 S.Ct. 2521, 65 L.Ed.2d 581 (1980)); see also Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 20 L.Ed.2d 776 (1968); La. C.Cr.P. art. 798(2). A trial judge has great discretion in determining whether cause has been shown to reject a prospective juror; this Court will not reverse this determination unless review of the whole voir dire indicates an abuse of discretion. State v. Bourque, 622 So.2d 198, 226 (La.1993). The record shows that during the voir dire examinations of five prospective jurors, the prospective jurors indicated they could not return a verdict for capital punishment under any circumstances or were unalterably opposed to the death penalty. Supp. Vol., p. 74; 84-86; 126; 165-66, 169; 192. Each of the challenged venirepersons indicated with sufficient clarity that he or she could not consider a death sentence. There was no abuse of the trial judge's discretion in sustaining the state's cause challenges.