Opinion ID: 1090851
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 26

Heading: Inadequate Rehabilitation of Venirepersons Who were Opposed to the Death Penalty

Text: ¶ 150. Russell first argues Lynell Henderson was struck because the defense did not make any kind of meaningful effort to rehabilitate the juror. Henderson stated that he was opposed to the death penalty, did not believe in capital punishment, was opposed and could not give the death penalty under any circumstances, was opposed to the death sentence and would look for a lesser way out and that he would opt for a lesser offense to get out of trying to decide the death penalty question. There were other times when Henderson almost said the right words to avoid being struck. The circuit court did not find that defense counsel failed to make a meaningful attempt at rehabilitation, but did find that defense counsel in his attempt to rehabilitate some jurors basically acknowledged that Mr. Henderson ... [was] beyond rehabilitation. We agree. ¶ 151. Jewell Kelly Myles started out saying that she opposed capital punishment, that she did not think she could vote for it under any circumstances, that her beliefs on capital punishment would interfere with her vote on the guilty/not guilty phase, that she would look for a lesser offense in order not to have to deal with the death penalty vote and she would not return a death sentence under any circumstances. Her next answer was that she probably could, then she said she did not know, then she said it would be hard to do, and then she reiterated her earlier answer about voting for a lesser offense. Later she stated that she could vote for capital murder knowing it would lead to the sentencing phase, then she stated that she could weigh the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, and then she said she would not hold it against Russell if he did not testify. Defense counsel did not protest when Myles was struck, unlike when Henderson was struck. We cannot say that defense counsel was ineffective for failure to try harder to keep this juror.