Court Opinion

ID: 9514018
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:43:20.857553+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:09.328035
License: Public Domain

VANDÉ WALLE, Chief Justice,
concurring specially.
[¶ 26] I agree with and have signed the opinion written for the Court by Justice Maring because I believe the law we cite requires the result reached by the opinion. In addition to the authority cited in our opinion, N.D. Sup.Ct. Admin. R. 9 also is involved in the jury selection procedure in this State. Rule 9(5), N.D. Sup.Ct. Admin. R., provides that the administration and management of the jury system must comply with the Standards Relating to Juror Use and Management which are incorporated in the rule as an Appendix. Standard 7 governs voir dire and subsection (a) of that standard provides that basic background information should be made available in writing to counsel or each self-represented party “unless disclosure is limited by the court in accordance with Section 27-09.1-09, N.D.C.C.” As our opinion notes, that section provides, at subsec*187tion 3, that the names of qualified jurors and the contents of jury qualification forms completed by those jurors “shall be made available to the public unless the court determines in any instance that this information in the interest of justice should be kept confidential or its use limited in whole or in part.”
[¶ 27] Standard 7(c) requires the judge to “ensure that the privacy of prospective jurors is reasonably protected, and that the questioning by counsel is consistent with the purpose of the voir dire process.”
[¶28] Rule 9(3), N.D. Sup.Ct. Admin. R., provides that the State Court Administrator, after consultation with the Jury Standards Committee, shall file a jury selection plan with the Clerk of the North Dakota Supreme Court and further provides that plan “shall detail the procedures to be followed in selecting and managing jurors in order to implement the policies set forth in N.D.C.C. Ch. 27-09.1,” the Uniform Jury Selection and Service Act. Although that plan contains a brief qualification form for determining whether or not a juror is qualified to serve, it does not define the scope of the jury questionnaire. Rather, Section V of the Jury Selection Plan provides that “The questions on the qualification form shall be limited to those questions which may disqualify a person from jury service.” Those questions ask whether the prospective juror is a citizen, a resident of the State and the county in which the trial is to be held, age, physical or mental disability which would affect the ability to serve or which would require special accommodations and whether the prospective juror has lost the right to vote because of current imprisonment.
[¶ 29] Subsection 3(b) of Section V of the plan states: “Questions which do not directly address the determination of qualifications should not be on the qualification form, but may be on the juror questionnaire.”
[¶ 30] Thus the Jury Selection Plan recognizes a distinction between the juror qualification form which is to contain only questions as to the qualifications of the prospective juror to sit on any jury and the questionnaire which seeks information that the parties or their attorneys will use in determining whether or not the prospective juror should be challenged for cause or peremptorily removed from a panel in a particular case. It is this questionnaire which may ask questions the answers to which should remain confidential because of juror privacy.
[¶ 31] Here, the parties with the approval of the district judge used an “expanded” jury questionnaire, expanded as our opinion notes to 34 pages of questions.
[¶ 32] I write to note that our opinion may have unintended consequences. In an effort to “reasonably” protect the privacy of prospective jurors the district court, in future cases, may be unwilling to allow such an “expanded” jury questionnaire. While counsel or the self-represented party may ask those questions during voir dire in open court, it is problematic that they will ask each juror 34 pages of questions during that time or that the district judge will allow that depth of questioning in view of the court’s responsibility to reasonably protect the juror’s privacy. Thus the agreement to keep the questionnaires confidential has some logical purpose. However, as our opinion notes, the sweep of confidentiality is too great. Prospectively, if the expanded questionnaires are used, our opinion indicates at ¶ 22, some, but certainly not all, specific information may be held confidential. Thus jurors as well as the media and the public will be informed before the fact.
[¶ 33] As our opinion and this writing indicate, there is a balancing process at *188work between the public’s right to access and the juror’s right to privacy and that process is, initially, the responsibility of the trial court. Our opinion will hopefully provide guidance to the trial courts as well as to the parties, counsel and the public who seek access to the juror information.
[¶ 34] GERALD W. VANDE WALLE, C.J., concurs.