Court Opinion

ID: 9753050
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 18:54:42.660331+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:28.728696
License: Public Domain

NIX, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
Although I recognize that the United States Supreme Court is moving in the opposite direction, see Wainwright v. Witt, — U.S. —, 105 S.Ct. 844, 83 L.Ed.2d 841 (1985), I remain convinced that the death qualification process produces juries which are both prosecution prone and unrepresentative of the community. See Commonwealth v. Szuchon, 506 Pa. 228, 260, 484 A.2d 1365, 1382 (1984) (Nix, C.J., dissenting); Commonwealth v. Maxwell, 505 Pa. 152, 172-174, 477 A.2d 1309, 1319, cert. denied, — U.S. —, 105 S.Ct. 370, 83 L.Ed.2d — (1984) (Nix, C.J., dissenting). The results of that procedure are particularly offensive here since, as the majority acknowledges, the death penalty should never have been a factor in the case.