Court Opinion

ID: 9543537
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:46:20.931738+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:10:34.016152
License: Public Domain

ZIMMERMAN, Justice
(concurring in the result):
I concur in the result reached by a majority of the court to reverse and remand for a new trial. I join in Justice Stewart’s criticism of Justice Durham’s extension of the rule of McDonough Power Equipment, Inc. v. Greenwood, 464 U.S. 548, 104 S.Ct. 845, 78 L.Ed.2d 663 (1984). However, I do not join Justice Stewart in believing that the second prong of the McDonough test is met if the question at issue goes only to the exercise of a peremptory challenge. I would limit the test only to challenges for cause. In the present case, I would hold that the second prong of the original Mc-Donough test was met, a conclusion with which both Justice Durham and Justice Stewart disagree.
The second prong of McDonough asks whether a truthful answer to the question asked would have provided a basis for a challenge for cause. Id. at 556, 104 S.Ct. at 850. Justice Durham finds this standard not met because “the mere fact that a juror has had some family connection to a criminal act would not justify a challenge for cause.” But at the time of the juror questioning, there was every reason to believe that any juror who had suffered, or whose family member had suffered, an assault of the type charged against defendant would have been a candidate for a motion to strike for cause. In fact, the trial court excused for cause a potential juror who disclosed such an incident. Certainly, candid answers by the two jurors here in question would have served as a valid basis for a similar challenge for cause.
I recognize that, after the fact, the jurors may state that they still could have judged the case impartially and the State may claim that any challenge for cause would have been denied even if the questions had been answered accurately. Justice Howe seizes on this point as a basis for affirming the conviction. I would not construe the second prong of McDonough so as to permit any such retrospective second-guessing as to the effect of an accurate answer to the questions asked the jurors. Hindsight should have no place in the McDonough analysis. State v. Thomas, 777 P.2d 445, 451 (Utah 1989) (Zimmerman, J., concurring). Here, the facts not disclosed would have created a prima facie case for a motion to disqualify for cause. That is enough to satisfy McDonough.
For the foregoing reasons, I would hold that both prongs of the McDonough test were satisfied and defendant is entitled to a new trial before a properly selected jury.