Court Opinion

ID: 9857826
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 16:02:46.98618+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:46:33.293061
License: Public Domain

*920CLINTON, Judge,
concurring.
In its treatment of appellant’s last point of error the majority concludes “that Goodwin was clearly excludable under the test enunciated in Wainwright v. Witt, 469 U.S. 412, 105 S.Ct. 844, 88 L.Ed.2d 841 (1985).” Slip op. at 919. This Court’s proper appellate function does not include de novo determinations of “substantial impairment,” vel non. Rather, this Court should examine the record to ascertain whether there is a reasonable basis in the responses of the venireman to support the trial court’s implied finding of substantial impairment.
In the past, and especially since the decision of the Supreme Court in Wainwright v. Witt, supra, this Court has paid lip service to the trial court’s discretion in ruling upon State’s challenges for cause. A typical statement appears in Ex parte Russell, 720 S.W.2d 477, at 485 (Tex.Cr.App.1986):
“In making the determination of the qualification of a juror, great deference is to be given to the decision of the trial judge, who has broad discretion in his rulings in challenges, who was present, heard the tenor of the voice of the prospective juror, his demeanor, etc.”
See also, e.g., Smith v. State, 676 S.W.2d 379, at 387 (Tex.Cr.App.1984); Smith v. State, 683 S.W.2d 393, at 401, n. 5 (Tex.Cr.App.1984); Vanderbilt v. State, 629 S.W. 2d 709 (Tex.Cr.App.1981). Having granted this discretion to trial courts, however, it seems to me we turn around and effectively revoke it when we continually conclude our discussions on these points of error with holdings that “we find” the venireman to have been substantially impaired, or that “clearly” he was so. At least in the context of what has been termed “equivocating” or “vacillating” veniremen, see Williams v. State, 622 S.W.2d 116, 121 (Tex.Cr.App.1981) (Teague, J., dissenting), it seems to me that due deference to the trial court means that he has discretion to find such a venireman is not in fact impaired, in spite of some obvious difficulty he may have. Categorically to hold, or at least to imply as our holdings do, that such a venireman is in every case substantially impaired sends a message to trial courts that in fact they do not have the discretion to overrule State’s challenges for cause in the premises. Rather, as a matter of appellate review, this Court should simply hold there is a reasonable basis in the record to support a finding by the trial court that the venireman will be impaired in his ability to abide by his oath as a juror. Hernandez v. State, 757 S.W.2d 744 (Tex.Cr.App.1988) (Plurality Opinion). Such a standard of appellate review does not preclude the trial court from exercising its discretion to find that a venireperson, who may appear in a cold appellate record to be truly equivocating or vacillating, actually proved, by demeanor, tone or howsoever, able in fact to follow the law. See Perillo v. State, 758 S.W.2d 567, at 577 (Tex.Cr.App.1988). The voir dire examination set out in the majority opinion is sufficient to support the trial court’s conclusion that venireman Goodwin was substantially impaired.
Because in that and in other respects I am unable to agree with particulars of its treatment of some points of error, I concur only in the result reached by the majority.
With those reservations, I join the judgment of the Court.