Court Opinion

ID: 9572152
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:39:05.105414+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:31:42.012675
License: Public Domain

COMPTON, J.,
dissenting in part.
In the course of deciding that the trial court committed reversible error by failing to exclude Juror Cromwell, the majority has not given proper attention to the following elementary principles of appellate review. Whether a prospective juror should be excluded for cause is a matter within the sound discretion of the trial court. Waye v. Commonwealth, 219 Va. 683, 690, 251 S.E.2d 202, 206, cert. denied, 442 U.S. 924 (1979). An appellate court must attach great weight to the opinion of the trial judge when the competency of a juror is in issue. McCue v. Commonwealth, 103 Va. 870, 993, 49 S.E. 623, 626 (1905). The foundation for the foregoing principles is obvious. The trial judge observes and hears the veniremen in the midst of the trial atmosphere while we, as a reviewing tribunal remote from the trial courtroom, are called upon to divine a prospective juror’s “state of mind” and thereby conclude she has an “ingrained and tenacious bias” against the accused, based on nothing more than a cold record consisting of words on the printed page. The trial judge is in a better position than anyone else to gauge the venireman’s “state of mind,” “attitude,” candor, and purpose to give fair judgment on the evidence. Ballard v. Commonwealth, 156 Va. 980, 1000, 159 S.E. 222, 229 (1931). Guided by these precepts, I am of opinion there was no abuse of discretion in seating Juror Cromwell.
The prospective juror stated that she was not sensible of any bias or prejudice against the accused, that she knew of no reason “whatsoever” why she could not give defendant a fair trial “according to the law and the evidence,” that she had never before served on a jury in a civil or criminal case, that she would “try” to judge the testimony impartially, and that she would listen to all the testimony and base her decision “solely on the evidence and the law given to [her] by the Court.” While Cromwell was obviously not as well-versed as the law graduate in the legal niceties dealing with burdens of proof, I submit *449the trial court did not err in concluding she met the basic test and stood “indifferent to the cause.” Code § 8.01-358. As I view the entire voir dire examination of Crom.well, the trial judge could properly conclude that she had no preconceived inclination against defendant and that she had not formed any substantial opinion as to defendant’s guilt or innocence. Her responses to cross-examination by counsel merely indicate, I submit, complete ignorance of applicable rules of law, a circumstance which alone does not render a juror incompetent. See Justus v. Commonwealth, 220 Va. 971, 977, 266 S.E.2d 87, 91 (1980).
Building on Breeden v. Commonwealth, 217 Va. 297, 227 S.E.2d 734 (1976), which went to the outer limit in circumscribing the function of the trial judge in this area, the majority today accelerates a trend, which I resist, of requiring disqualification of jurors when they articulate insubstantial “attitudes” and views acquired through ignorance of the law. Certainly, if upon inquiry into the underpinning and depth of a venireman’s expressed sentiment, the view of the prospective juror is substantial as to the guilt or innocence of the accused, that person should be excluded. But if, as here, the inquiry demonstrates the person’s conclusion is merely unsubstantial and is the result of unenlightenment, the venireman should be seated. See Robinson v. Commonwealth, 104 Va. 888, 892, 52 S.E. 690, 691 (1906).
For these reasons, I would affirm this conviction.