Court Opinion

ID: 9470811
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:16:34.900539+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:06.948740
License: Public Domain

GARTH, Circuit Judge,
concurring in the judgment.
In this case Juror James F. Hrin, who sat in judgment of the petitioner, Jon Yount, admitted during his voir dire that until he was shown facts establishing Yount’s innocence, he would find it difficult to change his opinion about Yount’s guilt. Because I conclude that Hrin, by so testifying during the voir dire, demonstrated “the actual existence of such an opinion in the mind of [one of Yount’s] juror[s] as will raise the presumption of partiality,” Murphy v. Florida, 421 U.S. 794, 800, 95 S.Ct. 2031, 2036, 44 L.Ed.2d 589 (1975); Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 723, 81 S.Ct. 1639, 1643, 6 L.Ed.2d 751 (1961), I concur in the judgment of the court that a new trial is required.
My concurrence, however, is limited to' the issue raised by Yount’s charge that Jur- or Hrin had been improperly impaneled. Thus, while I agree with Judge Hunter that Yount’s fifth amendment rights were not violated when his inculpatory statements were admitted at his second trial, I do not agree with Judge Hunter that pre-trial publicity required a change of venue. As I read the record, it was the failure of the trial judge to apply the principles of Irvin, supra, in excusing jurors for cause that resulted in an unfair trial. Thus, I restrict my vote for a remand and new trial solely to the issue of Juror Hrin’s impaneling as a juror, and do not agree with Judge Hunter’s thesis that the district court erred in denying a change of venue.
I.
As the majority notes, Yount had been convicted of murder and rape in 1966. After the Pennsylvania Supreme Court set aside both of these convictions in 1969, Yount was tried a second time for murder in November of 1970. The voir dire in this second trial exhausted ten days and 167 veniremen1, 121 of whom were dismissed for cause.
Among the twelve jurors and two alternates selected to try Yount, six testified that they had formed no opinions as to Yount’s guilt. Five jurors stated that they had formed opinions about the case, but that they could lay those opinions aside and keep an open mind. Finally, three jurors— both of the alternates and Juror James F. Hrin — testified that they had opinions of Yount’s culpability but could change these opinions if the proper evidence were presented.2
Juror Hrin’s voir dire examination by the prosecution disclosed that Hrin was uncertain whether he could render a verdict based solely on the evidence adduced at trial. Responding to two questions by the prosecutor, Hrin asserted that he “wouldn’t say for sure” whether he could “erase or remove the opinion” he held, but stated a second time that he eould do so. Hrin’s answers were punctuated with suggestions *976that he thought he “possibly could” render a fair verdict, and that “[i]t would be rather difficult for me to answer” whether he “could enter the jury box presuming [Yount] to be innocent.”3
Under cross examination by counsel for the defendant Yount, Hrin asserted that he would require the production of evidence before he would abandon any opinion of Yount’s guilt. Hrin stated as follows:
Q. Did I understand Mr. Hrin you would require some — you would require evidence or something before you could change your opinion you now have?
A. Definitely. If the facts show a difference from what I had originally had been led to believe, I would definitely change my mind.
Q. But until you’re shown those facts, you would not change your mind — is that your position?
A. Well — I have nothing else to go on.
Q. I understand. Then the answer is yes — you would not change your mind until you were presented facts?
A. Right, but I would enter it with an open mind.
Q. In other words, you’re saying that while facts were presented you would keep an open mind and after that you would feel free to change your mind?
A. Definitely.
Q. But you would not change your mind until the facts were presented?
A. Right....
Yount promptly challenged Juror Hrin for cause, a challenge the trial court denied because “he declared he could go in there with an open mind.” The trial court reasoned as follows:
I deny the challenge for cause because he declared he could go in there with an open mind; and Commonwealth against [Commonwealth v.] Bentley [287 Pa. 539, 135 A. 310 (1926)] sets forth that — any juror is incompetent who has a fixed and definite opinion which cannot be erased by hearing and evidence — and he said he could disregard it and be guided by the law and evidence, and I believe he stated he could go in with an open mind. I would accept that as being sufficient to overcome the conviction that you proposed that he has a fixed opinion that he could not put aside and I think his answers were unequivical [sic] enough as to any fixation as to opinion as he declared although he had a solid opinion it is not quite as solid as it used to be which indicates that it is not solid. His expression is such that there is not now a fixed opinion and therefore I so accept it.
On appeal, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court concluded summarily that “[t]he record shows that none of the jurors had a fixed opinion as to appellant’s guilt or innocence, or was otherwise legally unable to serve.” Commonwealth v. Yount, 455 Pa. 303, 314, 314 A.2d 242, 248 (1974).
*977On January 8, 1981, Yount filed pro se a petition for habeas corpus. Paragraph 12-B of the petition asserted in part that “two [jurors] stated that they would require Petitioner to prove his innocence.” In light of the record in this case, it is patent that one of the jurors referred to in paragraph 12-B is Juror Hrin.4 The district court reviewed pertinent portions of each of the jurors’ voir dire testimony, including Hrin’s, but did not concentrate on Hrin’s testimony in particular, and made no findings respecting it. See Yount v. Patton, 537 F.Supp. 873, 880 (WD.Pa.1982). Yount argues before us on appeal that Hrin had abandoned the presumption of innocence, and that Yount could not constitutionally be convicted by a panel containing such a juror.
II.
As the Supreme Court in Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart stated, “pretrial publicity — even pervasive, adverse publicity— does not inevitably lead to an unfair trial.” 427 U.S. 539, 554, 96 S.Ct. 2791, 2800, 49 L.Ed.2d 683 (1976). In order to explain fully why I do not believe the district court erred in denying a change in venue due to alleged prejudicial publicity, it is useful to review those circumstances in which jury exposure to adverse publicity does require a new trial.
First, the accused may demonstrate the actual existence of prejudice attributable to pretrial publicity on the part of one or more members of the jury. See Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 723, 81 S.Ct. 1639, 1643, 6 L.Ed.2d 751 (1961). Such prejudice must be shown “not as a matter of speculation but as a demonstrable reality,” United States ex rel. Darcy v. Handy, 351 U.S. 454, 462, 76 S.Ct. 965, 970, 100 L.Ed. 1331 (1956), and is usually established by reliance on the jurors’ voir dire responses. See United States v. Chagra, 669 F.2d 241, 250 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 103 S.Ct. 102, 74 L.Ed.2d 92 (1982).
Second, in extreme cases of highly inflammatory pretrial publicity which saturates the community from which the jury is drawn, the accused may rely on a presumption of partiality, and need not prove actual bias. See Rideau v. Louisiana, 373 U.S. 723, 726-27, 83 S.Ct. 1417, 1419-20, 10 L.Ed.2d 663 (1963); cf. Murphy v. Florida, 421 U.S. 794, 802-03, 95 S.Ct. 2031, 2037-2038, 44 L.Ed.2d 589 (1975); Mayola v. Alabama, 623 F.2d 992, 997 (5th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 913, 101 S.Ct. 1986, 68 L.Ed.2d 303 (1981). This presumption is rebuttable, however, and the prosecution may demonstrate the impartiality of the jury by reliance on the voir dire testimony. See United States v. Chagra, supra, 669 F.2d at 250, 252-54; United States v. Johnson, 584 F.2d 148, 154 (6th Cir.1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 918, 99 S.Ct. 1239, 59 L.Ed.2d 469 (1979); United States v. Gullion, 575 F.2d 26, 29-30 (1st Cir.1978).
Third, the accused can demonstrate “a significant possibility of prejudice,” United States v. Davis, 583 F.2d 190, 196 (5th Cir.1978), and that the voir dire procedure was inadequate to permit its discovery. See United States v. Blanton, 700 F.2d 298, 307-08 (6th Cir.1983); United States v. Dellinger, 472 F.2d 340, 374-75 (7th Cir.1972), cert. denied, 410 U.S. 970, 93 S.Ct. 1443, 35 L.Ed.2d 706 (1973); Silverthorne v. United States, 400 F.2d 627, 639 (9th Cir.1968); cf. United States v. Capo, 595 F.2d 1086, 1092 n. 6 (5th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1012, 100 S.Ct. 660, 62 L.Ed.2d 641 (1980); United States v. Haldeman, 559 F.2d 31, 64- 71 (D.C.Cir.1976), cert. denied, 431 U.S. 933, 97 S.Ct. 2641, 53 L.Ed.2d 250 (1977); United States v. Addonizio, 451 F.2d 49, 65- 67 (3d Cir.1971), cert. denied, 405 U.S. 1048, 92 S.Ct. 1309, 31 L.Ed.2d 591 (1972).
In addition, in two classes of cases the accused may assert that events transpiring during the course of trial rendered the trial unfair. In Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. *978333, 86 S.Ct. 1507, 16 L.Ed.2d 600 (1966), and Estes v. Texas, 381 U.S. 532, 85 S.Ct. 1628, 14 L.Ed.2d 543 (1965), the Supreme Court condemned the conduct of trials “utterly corrupted by press coverage.” See Dobbert v. Florida, 432 U.S. 282, 303, 97 S.Ct. 2290, 2303, 53 L.Ed.2d 344 (1975). In these cases, the presence of the press during trial rendered the conduct of a fair trial impossible.5 A similar intrusion into the trial process occurs when members of the jury are exposed to publicity during the trial. See Marshall v. United States, 360 U.S. 310, 311, 79 S.Ct. 1171, 1172, 3 L.Ed.2d 1250 (1959); Goins v. McKeen, 605 F.2d 947, 952-54 (6th Cir.1979); United States v. Williams, 568 F.2d 464, 468 (5th Cir.1978); United States v. Jones, 542 F.2d 186, 194-97 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 426 U.S. 922, 96 S.Ct. 2629, 49 L.Ed.2d 375 (1976).
In this case, no juror was exposed to adverse publicity during trial, and the record reflecting the publicity' preceding Yount’s second trial, in my opinion, was not so inflammatory as to give rise to a presumption of partiality. In addition, it is conceded that the trial court “extend[ed] great leniency to [Yount] in his questioning of the veniremen,” Maj. op., at 970 n. 23, and no argument is raised that the voir dire was less than ample to expose the prejudices of potential jurors. Therefore, the only basis for upsetting Yount’s conviction is the existence of the “actual prejudice” of one or more members of the jury.
An accused may demonstrate “actual prejudice” on the part of the jury in two ways. First, the defendant may establish, by means of the voir dire testimony, that one or more jurors had a preconceived opinion of the defendant’s guilt which could not be set aside in order to “render a verdict based on the evidence presented in court.” Irvin v. Dowd, supra, 366 U.S. at 723, 81 S.Ct. at 1643. In such a case, the trial court would err by not granting a challenge to this juror for cause. A change of venue, however, would not be required if the challenge for cause were granted.
Second, in extremely rare circumstances the accused may establish “actual prejudice” by inference. See Murphy v. Florida, 421 U.S. 794, 803, 95 S.Ct. 2031, 2038, 44 L.Ed.2d 589 (1975). In such a case the defendant must demonstrate “a community with sentiment so poisoned against petitioner as to impeach the indifference of jurors who displayed no animus of their own.” Id. In the only Supreme Court case to rely on this ground, Irvin v. Dowd, ninety percent of those examined on the point had a preconceived notion of the defendant’s guilt, and eight persons who actually sat in judgment of the defendant thought the defendant guilty. 366 U.S. at 727, 81 S.Ct. at 1645. Indeed, just recently this court refused to apply the Irvin principle to reverse a conviction in which only 23 of 71 persons known to be exposed to pretrial publicity had fixed opinions of the defendant’s guilt. Martin v. Warden, 653 F.2d 799, 806 (3d Cir.1981), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 1151, 102 S.Ct. 1019, 71 L.Ed.2d 306 (1982). Thus while I agree that if the defendant establishes the existence of a community “so poisoned against the [defendant] as to impeach the indifference of jurors who displayed no animus,” then a change of venue is required, I do not agree that merely because a number of prospective jurors harbor opinions of guilt, that the voir dire, fairly conducted, cannot screen the biased from the fair-minded.
A showing of actual prejudice by this method is not to be lightly accomplished. As the Fifth Circuit stated in United States v. Dozier, 672 F.2d 531, 546 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 103 S.Ct. 256, 74 L.Ed.2d 200 (1982), “detection of actual *979prejudice is not accomplished through juggling statistics.” Irvin does n'ot establish a bright-line rule that a venire containing a percentage of biased talesmen above a certain level is presumptively bad. Rather, the court must examine the totality of the circumstances, including the adequacy of the voir dire in ferreting out biased jurors, in order to establish whether a change of venue is constitutionally required.
A thorough and skillfully conducted voir dire should be adequate to identify juror bias, even in a community saturated with publicity adverse to the defendant. As the District of Columbia Court of Appeals noted, “voir dire has long been recognized as an effective method of rooting out such bias, especially when conducted in a careful and thoroughgoing manner.” In re Application of National Broadcasting Co., 653 F.2d 609, 617 (D.C.Cir.1981) (footnotes omitted). For this reason the courts of appeals have repeatedly expressed “confidence in the effectiveness of a skillful voir dire to counteract the threat of pretrial publicity.” United States v. Duncan, 598 F.2d 839, 865-66 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 871, 100 S.Ct. 148, 62 L.Ed.2d 96 (1979). Reviewing the conviction of Lieutenant William Calley for the killing of civilians at My Lai, a trial that generated considerably more pretrial publicity than Yount's second trial in 1970, the Fifth Circuit observed that “[tjhere has been a greater willingness to uphold a trial court’s determination that jurors were capable of rendering an impartial verdict where that conclusion was reached after deliberate, searching, and thorough voir dire.” Calley v. Callaway, 519 F.2d 184, 209 n. 45 (5th Cir.1975), cert. denied, 425 U.S. 911, 96 S.Ct. 1505, 47 L.Ed.2d 760 (1976). See also Graham v. Mabry, 645 F.2d 603, 611 (8th Cir.1981); United States v. Capo, 595 F.2d 1086, 1091-92 (5th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1012, 100 S.Ct. 660, 62 L.Ed.2d 641 (1980); Margoles v. United States, 407 F.2d 727, 729-31 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 833, 90 S.Ct. 89, 24 L.Ed.2d 84 (1969).
As Irvin makes plain, a juror’s subjective affirmation of impartiality is not dispositive of the question of juror bias. It has always been clear that “merely going through the form of obtaining jurors’ assurances of impartiality is insufficient.” United States ex rel. Bloeth v. Denno, 313 F.2d 364, 372 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 372 U.S. 978, 83 S.Ct. 1112, 10 L.Ed.2d 143 (1963). Instead, the trial court must determine independently and objectively whether the jurors’ assurances are credible. See United States v. Blanton, 700 F.2d 298, 307-08 (6th Cir.1983); United States v. Gerald, 624 F.2d 1291, 1296-97 (5th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 920, 101 S.Ct. 1369, 67 L.Ed.2d 348 (1981). The American Bar Association’s, Standards for.Criminal Justice provide that the voir dire “shall be conducted for the purpose of determining what the prospective juror has read and heard about the case and how any exposure has affected that person’s attitude toward the trial.” ABA Standards for Criminal Justice § 8-3.5 (2d ed. 1978). The objective evaluation of this information, however, rests with the trial court. In Irvin, the trial court (which itself questioned the jurors challenged for cause) did not engage in a searching and thorough voir dire. Instead, the court erroneously credited the jurors’ subjective opinions that each could render an impartial verdict notwithstanding his or her opinion. Irvin v. Dowd, supra, 366 U.S. at 724, 81 S.Ct. at 1643.
Yount’s case, however, differs significantly from Irvin v. Dowd. First, counsel themselves conducted the voir dire in Yount’s trial and, as Judge Hunter concedes, were afforded great leniency in the questioning of veniremen. Second, Yount challenged only three jurors for cause, and. two of those jurors, according to the district court’s findings, “indicated that they harbored no fixed opinion.” Yount v. Patton, supra, 537 F.Supp. at 878. Third, the trial court permitted questioning on the exposure of each juror to publicity and the degree of fixation of each juror’s opinion. Six of the jurors testified that they had no preconceived opinion of Yount’s guilt at all. Among the remaining six jurors, Yount challenged only one — Juror James F. Hrin, whom I discuss below — for cause. The scope and depth of the voir dire, and the absence of challenges for cause to each jur- *980or except Hrin, was adequate to support an independent and objective determination that, with the exception of Hrin, the jurors could “lay aside [their] impression[s] or opinion[s] and render a verdict based on the evidence presented in court.” Irvin v. Dowd, supra, 366 U.S. at 723, 81 S.Ct. at 1643.
Judge Hunter, however, discounts the extensive voir dire conducted in Yount’s 1970 trial and the absence of challenges for cause to each juror except Hrin. Rather, Judge Hunter’s opinion places great weight on the finding that “77 percent of the 163 veniremen questioned admitted that they would carry an opinion into the jury box.” Maj. op., at 970. To my mind, this reliance on statistics, without regard to the scope of the voir dire or the absence of challenges for cause, elevates to talismanic significance the percentage of veniremen as a whole with opinions about a defendant’s guilt. I do not believe Irvin v. Dowd was ever intended to be read in this fashion. If the scope of the voir dire is ample — as it con-cededly is in this case — the fact that a large percentage of persons who are not on the jury have prejudices should carry little weight.
There are undoubtedly many communities in which large percentages of the veniremen have been exposed to pretrial publicity and have a notion of the defendant’s guilt. The well-publicized trials of the Watergate defendants, see United States v. Haldeman, supra, and of Lieutenant Wil-liam Calley, see Calley v. Callaway, supra, are undoubtedly of this character. But, the very function of the voir dire is to root out such persons with preconceived prejudices and identify only those who can, by the trial court’s independent determination, lay aside any prejudices and render a verdict based solely on the evidence adduced during trial. Thus, given a voir dire which is concededly adequate and which functions to achieve its designed purpose, a venue change is not constitutionally required simply because many of the persons who will not serve on the defendant’s jury may harbor prejudices as to the defendant’s guilt.
For these reasons, I do not join Judge Hunter’s holding that a change of venue in Yount’s case was constitutionally required. Nevertheless, I concur in the judgment of the court because I conclude, for the reasons that follow, that Juror James F. Hrin should not have been impaneled in this case.
III.
In Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 81 S.Ct. 1639, 6 L.Ed.2d 751 (1961), the Supreme Court held that the mere existence of any preconceived notion as to the guilt or innocence of an accused is not, without more, sufficient to rebut the presumption of a prospective juror’s impartiality. Id. at 723, 81 S.Ct. at 1643. As the Court observed, however, the adoption of such a rule does not “ ‘foreclose inquiry as to whether, in a given case, the application of that rule works a deprivation of the prisoner’s life or liberty without due process of law.’ ” Id., quoting Lisenba v. California, 314 U.S. 219, 236, 62 S.Ct. 280, 290, 86 L.Ed. 166 (1941).
The test of a prospective juror’s impartiality, articulated in Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145, 25 L.Ed. 244 (1878), and reiterated in Dowd, supra, is whether
“the nature and strength of the opinion formed are such as in law necessarily ... raise the presumption of partiality.... The affirmance of the issue is upon the challenger. Unless he shows the actual existence of such an opinion in the mind of the juror as will raise the presumption of partiality, the juror need not necessarily be set aside.” [Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145, 156-57, 25 L.Ed. 244 (1878).]
Irvin v. Dowd, supra, 366 U.S. at 723, 81 S.Ct. at 1643. See Murphy v. Florida, 421 U.S. 794, 800, 95 S.Ct. 2031, 2036, 44 L.Ed.2d 589 (1975).
Hrin’s voir dire testimony, taken as a whole, demonstrates the “actual existence of such an opinion in the mind of the juror as will raise the presumption of partiality.” Even the testimony adduced by the prosecution raised serious doubts whether Hrin entered the jury box with an open mind. The record reveals that Hrin asserted simultaneously that he could keep an open mind and that he could not “say for sure” wheth*981er he could do so. In response to the question whether Hrin “could enter the jury box presuming [Yount] to be innocent,” Hrin conceded that “[i]t would be rather difficult for me to answer.”
Testimony adduced by the defense further revealed that Hrin would require Yount to produce evidence before Hrin would abandon his preconceived opinion of Yount’s guilt. Hrin affirmed that he “would not change [his] mind until [he] was presented [with] facts.” Having so stated, Hrin abandoned the presumption of innocence. While the law permits a juror to affirm that he or she will enter the jury box with an open mind, a juror cannot require that the defendant produce evidence to wipe clean a prior perception or opinion. The jurors must be impartial when sworn. They cannot agree to be impartial only if the defendant convinces them to be so.
In this case, a juror, by his own admission, required the production of evidence to change his preconceived opinion of the defendant’s guilt, and agreed to keep an open mind about this evidence if and when he heard it. As a matter of law, this admission raises a presumption of partiality. A defendant cannot constitutionally be convicted by a jury containing one such juror. Irvin v. Dowd, supra, 366 U.S. at 723, 81 S.Ct. at 1643; id. at 728, 81 S.Ct. at 1645 (“some [jurors went] so far as to say that it would take evidence to overcome their belief”).
IV.
In concluding as a matter of law that Juror Hrin’s testimony raises a presumption of impartiality under Irvin v. Dowd, supra, I am fully cognizant that in a federal habe-as corpus proceeding, the findings of a state court “shall be presumed to be correct, unless the applicant shall establish or it shall otherwise appear .... ” 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) (1976); see Sumner v. Mata, 449 U.S. 539, 551, 101 S.Ct. 764, 771, 66 L.Ed.2d 722 (1981). Under Irvin v. Dowd, however, an opinion of a prospective juror raises a presumption of partiality by operation of law, and therefore poses a mixed question of law and fact. As the Court in Dowd stated,
the test is ‘whether the nature and strength of the opinion formed are such as in law necessarily ... raise the presumption of partiality. The question thus presented is one of mixed law and fact.... As was stated in Brown v. Allen, 344 U.S. 443, 507 [73 S.Ct. 397, 446, 97 L.Ed. 469], the “so-called mixed questions or the application of constitutional principles to the facts as found leave the duty of adjudication with the federal judge.” It was, therefore, the duty of the Court of Appeals to independently evaluate the voir dire testimony of the impaneled jurors.
Irvin v. Dowd, supra, 366 U.S. at 723, 81 S.Ct. at 1643.
In this case the Pennsylvania Supreme Court concluded that “none of the jurors had a fixed opinion as to [Yount’s] guilt or innocence.” Commonwealth v. Yount, supra, 455 Pa. at 314, 314 A.2d at 248. Nevertheless, the trial court found that Hrin had a “solid opinion [although] not quite as solid as it used to be.” Neither the trial court nor the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, however, considered the legal effect of Hrin’s requirement that the defendant put on evidence to disabuse Hrin of this opinion. This latter requirement raises a presumption of partiality as a matter of law, and therefore does not implicate 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). Cf. Smith v. Phillips, 455 U.S. 209, 218, 102 S.Ct. 940, 946, 71 L.Ed.2d 78 (1982) (in which no such presumption by operation of law applied); see id. at 222 n. *, 102 S.Ct. at 948 n. * (O’Connor, J., concurring).
V.
The sixth amendment guarantees to each defendant a fair and impartial trial by a jury of his or her peers. The right to trial by impartial jury, old as the Magna Carta, is fundamental to our system of justice. See Duncan v. Louisiana, 391 U.S. 145, 151-56, 88 S.Ct. 1444, 1448-1451, 20 L.Ed.2d 491 (1968). Consistency with this constitutional provision requires that each juror lay aside a prior perception or opinion and “render a *982verdict based on the evidence presented in court.” Irvin v. Dowd, supra, 366 U.S. at 723, 81 S.Ct. at 1643. Consequently, no juror may enter the jury box with an opinion that can be changed only upon the presentation of evidence by the defense. Juror Hrin admitted to requiring such evidence, and therefore could not constitutionally sit in judgment of Yount. Accordingly, while I dissent from the view expressed in Judge Hunter’s opinion that a change of venue was constitutionally required, I concur in the judgment of the court, which directs that the writ of habeas corpus be issued unless Yount is retried within a reasonable time. I do so, however, only for the reason that Juror Hrin was improperly seated.

. Two hundred ninety-two persons were selected as talesmen for Yount’s second trial, 125 of whom the court dismissed as improperly chosen after learning that the Clearfield County sheriff had selected friends and acquaintances of his own in order to obtain a full complement of jurors. The court dismissed an additional four jurors for cause before questioning. Although the Magistrate’s report lists 168 jurors who were questioned, I agree with Judge Hunter that the record reveals only 167.

. Neither alternate juror participated in the jury’s deliberations. Their impartiality is not challenged before us.

. Hrin’s voir dire examination by the prosecutor was as follows:
Q. Have you formed any opinion as to the guilt or innocence of Mr. Yount?
A. To the degree that it was written up in the papers, yes.
Q. Is this a fixed opinion on your part?"
A. This is sort of difficult to answer.
Q. Let me ask — if you were to be selected as a juror in this case and take the jury box, could you erase or remove the opinion you now hold and render a verdict based solely on the evidence and law produced at this trial?
A. It is very possible. I wouldn’t say for sure.
Q. Do you think you could?
A. I think I possibly could.
Q. Then the opinion you hold is not necessarily a fixed and immobile opinion?
A. I would say not, because I work at a job where I have to change my mind constantly.
Q. Would you be able to change your mind regarding your opinion before you become a juror in this case? That’s the way I must have you answer the question.
A. If the facts were so presented I definitely could change my mind.
Q. Would you say you could enter the jury box presuming him to be innocent?
A. It would be rather difficult for me to answer.
Q. Can you enter the jury box with an open mind prepared to find your verdict on the evidence as presented at trial and the law presented by the Judge?
A. That I could do.

. There is therefore no question that the issue of Hrin’s partiality is before us on appeal. See United States ex rel. Hickey v. Jeffes, 571 F.2d 762, 766 (3d Cir.1978) (“[w]e can consider any issue, previously considered by the Pennsylvania courts, which was presented to the district court and would be ground for a reversal”). I assume that the other juror referred to in paragraph 12-B was an alternate juror. No alternates were substituted for members of the jury which convicted Yount. See note 2 supra.

. Although Rideau v. Louisiana, Sheppard v. Maxwell, and Estes v. Texas are frequently discussed as a unit, see, e.g., United States v. Dozier, 672 F.2d 531, 545-46 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 103 S.Ct. 256, 74 L.Ed.2d 200 (1982), Sheppard and Estes should be recognized as analytically distinct from Rideau. Rideau represents the only instance in which the Supreme Court has reversed a conviction solely on the basis of the extent and nature of pretrial publicity without a showing of actual prejudice. See Mayola v. Alabama, supra, 623 F.2d at 997. Sheppard and Estes, in contrast, represented intrusions into the trial process which undermined the integrity of the trial. See United States v. Chagra, supra, 669 F.2d at 249 n. 10; United States v. Haldeman, supra, 559 F.2d at 61 n. 32.