Court Opinion

ID: 9689886
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 18:49:12.673339+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:52.652582
License: Public Domain

BARHAM, Justice
(dissenting).
The majority has tried to distinguish this case from State v. Crittle, 263 La. 418, 268 So.2d 604, this day decided, without even mentioning the latter case. Both cases arose in the same jurisdiction, the jurisdiction from which State v. Richey, 258 La. 1094, 249 So.2d 143 (1971), emanated. Here the State objected to the defense inquiry as to whether the prospective juror would accept certain principles of law which are known to be contrary to the beliefs and moral convictions of some prospective jurors. The same trial court here, as in Crittle, in Richey, and in State v. Shepard, 263 La. 379, 268 So.2d 590, also decided this day, has innovated a method of interrogating jurors for selecting the jury because it found the attempt to discover grounds to challenge for cause under Code of Criminal Procedure Article 797(4) unduly prolongs trials, clogs the court’s docket, imposes upon the court, and delays justice.
These jury cases come out of a jurisdiction which has so few criminal jury trials that it would be unlikely, even with unlimited voir dire examination, for all of the criminal jury trials to consume 15 days in a whole calendar year. The following statistics 1 reflect the total lack of *456need for this particular court to control voir dire examination so severely:
Number of Jury Trials in Criminal
Year Cases
1967 5
1968 10
1969
1970 6
1971 10
' In the present case the majority has said that “* * * the questioning would have unduly prolonged the trial”. (Emphasis supplied.) It appears that the majority justifies its holding on this basis and on the basis that there was a good charge given to the jury at the end of the trial. Bad rulings on voir dire examination are not cured by good charges at the end of the trial. The judge’s charge is required to be correct under any set of circumstances.
The voir dire examination is the vehicle by which counsel discover grounds for challenge for cause and bases for peremptory challenge. Article 1, Section 10, of our Constitution gives the right of peremptory challenge to the accused in criminal prosecutions. To properly exercise that right great latitude must be allowed counsel in examining jurors on voir dire with the scope of the inquiry governed by a liberal discretion by the court to allow discovery of any prejudice in the mind of the juror. State v. Hills, 241 La. 345, 129 So.2d 12 (1961), and Art. 786, C.Cr.P., and Comment (d). ,We should be careful not to write out this constitutional guarantee by loose jurisprudential language. Voir dire examination must be legally and constitutionally fair and correct, and error which is prejudicial is not cured because all other parts of the trial are fair.
In upholding this trial court ruling the majority has changed the procedure long recognized as valid voir dire examination and eliminated the means to ascertain one of the basic grounds for challenge for cause simply for the convenience of one district court where the reasoning for change cannot be supported by the statistics shown above. I am not at all persuaded that this procedure is designed to benefit the accused or the State or to dispense speedy and effective justice.
I respectfully dissent for the reasons here assigned and for the reasons assigned in my dissents in State v. Crittle, supra, State v. Sheppard, supra, and State v. Richey, supra.

. Taken from the 1971 Annual Report of The Judicial Council of the Supreme Court of Louisiana. , '