Opinion ID: 503754
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: individual voir dire

Text: 84 Before the trial, Vest moved for individual questioning of prospective jurors. Vest's counsel contended that the community was so saturated with adverse publicity that only this procedure would ensure a fair trial. The district court denied the motion, and Vest now claims this was reversible error. We disagree. 85 The method of conducting the voir dire is left to the sound discretion of the district court. Rejection of the judge's procedure on appeal is not warranted unless we find circumstances which create an impermissible threat of an unfair trial. Salemme v. Ristaino, 587 F.2d 81, 88 (1st Cir.1978); see also United States v. Perrotta, 553 F.2d 247, 250 n. 6 (1st Cir.1977) (We leave to the sound discretion of the district court whether its initial inquiry into exposure to pre-trial publicity should be to the jurors collectively, as permitted in Margoles v. United States, 407 F.2d 727, 735 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 833, 90 S.Ct. 89, 24 L.Ed.2d 84 (1969), or individually.). We do not believe the circumstances here threatened an unfair trial. To the contrary, the procedure adopted by the district court struck a reasonable balance between ensuring a fair trial and avoiding needless delay. 86 The court can be said to have adopted a hybrid procedure of collective and individual questioning. It asked the prospective jurors, collectively, whether any of them had heard anything at all about the case. Any juror who responded affirmatively was called to the side bar for individual questioning by the judge. Jurors singled out were each asked to recount all that he or she knew about the case, and to state whether this knowledge would influence him or her in any way. The prosecutor and defense counsel were also given the opportunity to pose further questions to each such juror. In all, only four of 31 prospective jurors stated that they had some knowledge of the case. When questioned further, these four jurors all said that they would not be biased by their prior knowledge, and none of the four were challenged for cause. 87 In United States v. Perrotta, 553 F.2d at 250 n. 6, we approved a similar procedure. We see no inconsistency between what went on here and our decisions in United States v. Rhodes, 556 F.2d 599 (1st Cir.1977), and United States v. Patriarca, 402 F.2d 314, 318 (1st Cir.1968), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 1022, 89 S.Ct. 633, 21 L.Ed.2d 567 (1969). In both Rhodes and Patriarca the type of collective questioning conducted by the district court was significantly different. There the district court inquired of the jurors collectively whether any of them had been prejudiced by adverse publicity. The flaw in this procedure was that, 88 The court's questioning in no way elicited what, if anything, the jurors had learned, but let the jurors decide for themselves the ultimate question whether what they had learned had prejudiced them, without permitting the court to give any further instruction, or pursue further interrogation.... [T]his was altogether too telescopic an approach. 89 Rhodes, 556 F.2d at 601. In contrast, under the procedure approved in Perrotta, and employed by the district court here, jurors were not asked to decide for themselves the ultimate question of impartiality; once a juror admitted to any knowledge of the case, he or she was individually questioned as to the facts and extent of such knowledge. 90 Vest claims that the district court's procedure is flawed because jurors, in general, are reticent to call attention to themselves. Thus, Vest argues, jurors with some knowledge of the case may not have responded to the court's collective questions. Moreover, Vest claims that the community was so saturated with prejudicial publicity that individual questioning was warranted. In effect, Vest argues that more than four jurors must have had some knowledge of the case. To prove the degree of publicity, Vest quotes several newspaper headlines, as well as one of the four jurors with some knowledge of the case, who stated, I do live in Boston, so I can't believe I'm the only one who read about this. In sum, Vest believes that this case is of the exceptional type referred to in United States v. Perrotta, where we said, [T]here will undoubtedly be situations where individual inquiry will be the preferred course from the outset, just as in less sensitive situations collective inquiry will be more economical of time and less distracting. 553 F.2d at 250 n. 6. 91 The present case, however, did not reveal special circumstances from which it may be deduced that jurors with actual knowledge of the case might have been reluctant to come forward. That only four of 31 jurors professed to know anything about the case is suggestive less of a suspicious reticence than that fewer people knew of the case than appellant believes. If the community were really saturated with prejudicial publicity, more than four prospective jurors would likely have indicated that they had heard of the case. Cf. Salemme v. Ristaino, 587 F.2d at 88 (upholding the district court's decision not to conduct individual voir dire because, inter alia, only two of the jury panel recalled anything about the case). The evidence of publicity produced by Vest shows something less than a saturation of the community. Vest's case did make the front page of the Boston Globe on three occasions prior to trial, but the last front page story was over six weeks before the trial began. Furthermore, none of the four jurors who remembered the case and were individually questioned displayed more than a hazy recollection of the facts. Finally, we note that not one of the jurors mentioned any awareness of the one item of publicity (to which Vest has alerted us) that was seriously prejudicial. This item was the existence of the inculpatory tape which recorded the events surrounding Waters's handing of the $35,000 payment to Vest. Awareness of the existence of such a tape, which was excluded from evidence at trial, might have led a juror to think Vest guilty on the strength of evidence not presented at trial. See, e.g., Rhodes, 556 F.2d at 600 (overturning conviction for sale of marijuana because jurors may have read an article revealing that in an unlawful search, eight tons of marijuana were found on defendants' property). None of the questioned jurors, however, mentioned the tape. 92 In conclusion, we find that the district court's method of conducting the voir dire was within its discretion and proper.