Court Opinion

ID: 9560193
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:45:01.302164+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:12:17.670953
License: Public Domain

Dolliver, J.
(dissenting) — I would affirm the trial court and the Court of Appeals. The majority misconstrues and misapplies the relevant statutes and neglects even to mention the decisive statute.
In accordance with former RCW 2.36.063 and former RCW 2.36.093, both the master jury list and the jury panel were randomly selected. (There is no contention to the contrary by either the majority or the defendant.) These are the only juror lists which are statutorily required to be randomly selected. Because the jurors in question were eliminated from the panel after it had been randomly selected, no statutory violation occurred. This, of course, is the time when prospective jurors are to be removed. See, e.g., former RCW 2.36.100, .110; RCW 4.44.230-.250. Although the majority seems to suggest otherwise, there is no requirement the actual jury must be randomly selected.
Once the jury panel has been randomly selected, the trial court may excuse panelists from jury duly for "any reason deemed sufficient by the court for [whatever] period of time the court deems necessary." Former RCW 2.36.100. Defendant contends this language allows panelists to be *604excused only where undue hardship or disability are present. However, defendant cites no authority and provides no analysis to support this contention. The majority does not mention former RCW 2.36.100.
Upon the recommendation of the County Clerk, relying on the judgment of the Clerk, acting within its prerogative under former RCW 2.36.100, and following a long-standing procedure in Jefferson County, the trial court approved the action by the Clerk excusing three persons from the jury panel. See State v. Ingels, 4 Wn.2d 676, 682-83, 104 P.2d 944 (trial judge has broad discretion in excusing potential jurors), cert. denied, 311 U.S. 708 (1940). The reasons given by the trial court for its action are thoughtful and compelling:
The way things came up, in terms of a little explanation. The Clerk of the Court mentioned to me this morning prior to the time I met with the attorneys that there were some people who she should not have called for jury duty but that because she was on vacation and the jury call went — was sent out by one of her deputy clerks, some people were included in the jury panel who the Clerk of the Court felt were well acquainted with the defendant and would be excused because of that fact. Usually, if we know that somebody is going to be a close friend of the defendant or knows a defendant well we will simply make a point of not calling them for jury duty. I guess because we are a smaller county it is easy to know that kind of information. When the Clerk mentioned that to me, I said rather than have them with the entire jury panel as people are chatting with each other out in the hallway with the good likelihood that those people are simply going to be excused as soon as they indicate that they know the defendant well, she should just go ahead and excuse the individuals then. I didn't ask that she specifically identify the people or ask her to specifically quiz the individuals in terms of their acquaintanceship with the defendant. It has simply been our practice if we know that a juror is going to be excused to go ahead and excuse them early on so that they don't have to spend the morning here or all day, as it is indicated the length of jury selection is going to take today, and then find out that they are going to be *605excused because of a relationship with one of the parties. So, I told the Clerk to go ahead and excuse those individuals and that is the manner in which they were excused.
Report of Proceedings vol. II, at 158-59.
I find neither material deviation from the statutory requirements nor an abuse of discretion. The jury list and jury panel were randomly selected. The record makes clear the potential jurors on the panel were excused with the express approval of the trial court after the panel was randomly selected. This the court was entitled to do. See State v. Guthrie, 185 Wash. 464, 56 P.2d 160 (1936); State v. Killen, 39 Wn. App. 416, 693 P.2d 731 (1985). To infer, as the majority seems to do, that the trial court was required personally to conduct an examination of the jurors excused from the panel has no warrant. The trial court was in full compliance with the statutes. As the majority concedes, "[wjhere the selection process is in substantial compliance with the statutes, the defendant must show prejudice." Majority, at 600. Defendant cannot claim prejudice simply because she would rather have had a jury other than the one selected. State v. Phillips, 65 Wash. 324, 118 P. 43 (1911).
There has been no material departure from the statutes, and defendant has shown no prejudice. The constitutional issues raised by defendant are without merit. While I am inclined to agree with the Court of Appeals that a better procedure might be adopted in the future in Jefferson County, there has been no abuse of judicial discretion, and defendant has not been deprived of any statutory or constitutional right.
I dissent.
Durham and Guy, JJ., concur with Dolliver, J.