Court Opinion

ID: 9533384
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:31:15.258207+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:29:02.304405
License: Public Domain

BATTAGLIA, J.,
dissenting.
For the reasons set forth below, I must respectfully dissent from the majority decision in this case which reverses a conviction and remands the case for a new trial based upon the failure to ask a voir dire question which was not specifically related to the charge of possession and distribution of cocaine with which the defendant was indicted.
I find no abuse of discretion in this case where the trial court refused to ask the venire panel if anyone harbors “strong feelings regarding violations of the narcotics laws.” Basically, any response would not have yielded specific information sufficient to form the basis of a disqualification for cause. See Dingle v. State, 361 Md. 1, 15, 759 A.2d 819, 826 (2000)(explaining that in order to be meaningful, voir dire “must uncover more than ‘the jurors’ bottom line conclusions [to broad questions], which do not in themselves reveal automatically disqualifying biases as to their ability fairly and accurately to decide the case, and, indeed, which do not elucidate the bases for those conclusions .... ”)(quoting Bowie v. State, 324 Md. 1, 23, 595 A.2d 448, 459 (1991)). As a result, the majority is blurring the historical distinction between the use of voir dire as a basis for strikes for cause and its use as a basis for exercising peremptory challenges.
*220In Maryland, the trial court conducts voir dire examination to determine whether possible cause exists to disqualify a juror on the basis of bias or prejudice. See Chernock v. State, 203 Md. 147, 150, 99 A.2d 748, 749 (1953). In Davis v. State, 333 Md. 27, 633 A.2d 867 (1993), we explained the limited nature of Maryland’s voir dire process, that being to secure information to strike for cause:
This Court initially adopted the rules concerning the scope of voir dire because allowing more extensive inquiry would unduly tax the efficiency of Maryland’s judicial system. Although some litigants might benefit from broader mandatory voir dire, a greater number of citizens would be hindered due to the accompanying decline in their ability to gain prompt resolution of their litigation.
333 Md. at 42, 633 A.2d at 874. We reiterated the scope of Maryland’s voir dire process in Dingle:
To be sure, Maryland has adopted, and continues to adhere to, limited voir dire. It is also well settled that the trial court has broad discretion in the conduct of voir dire, most especially with regard to the scope and the form of the questions propounded, and that it need not make any particular inquiry of the prospective jurors unless that inquiry is directed toward revealing cause for disqualification.
361 Md. at 13, 759 A.2d at 826 (internal citations omitted). Thus, “[questions not directed to a specific ground for disqualification but which are speculative, inquisitorial, catechis-ing or ‘fishing’, asked in aid of deciding on peremptory challenges, may be refused in the discretion of the court, even though it would not have been error to have asked them.” McGee v. State, 219 Md. 53, 58, 146 A.2d 194, 196 (1959); see Whittemore v. State, 151 Md. 309, 315-16, 134 A. 322, 324 (1926) (trial court properly exercised its discretion in excluding questioning concerning the juror’s age because the questions were “for no specified purpose, and apparently with no question of disqualification in mind, but were merely beginning a process of examining at large, in order to form impressions and preferences, which, while they might properly be *221made the ground for peremptory challenges, would not test the eligibility of the jurymen”).
Thomas’s requested question would not have elicited specific bias relevant to the charge of possession and distribution of cocaine. To ask about “feelings” about “violations of narcotics laws” is so broad as to elicit responses about marijuana possession and misuse of prescription drugs, among many others. It would be similar to asking in a case involving driving while intoxicated whether the jury had any “feelings” about violations of the motor vehicle laws and expecting to elicit information sufficient to strike for cause.
In reaching its decision here today, the majority relies heavily on the Court’s earlier decision in Casey v. Roman Catholic Archbishop of Baltimore, 217 Md. 595, 143 A.2d 627 (1958). See Maj. op. at 215-16. The Casey decision, however, is inapposite to the majority’s position.
In' Casey, the defendant, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Baltimore, requested that the trial court propound two specific questions directly related to the Roman Catholic Church and the particular parish where the plaintiff was injured, and asked if a verdict was rendered against the defendant, could the jurors “fairly and impartially assess damages in the case in the same manner as if the defendant were a regular corporation or a natural person?” Casey, 217 Md. at 604, 143 A.2d at 630. The trial court declined the defendant’s request and decided to simply inform the panel that one of the parties was a “religious corporation,” — a term laden with ambiguities — and to ask whether due to “religious scruples or any other reason” the jurors would not be able to conduct a fair and impartial trial. Id.
The questions requested by. the church were directed toward eliciting specific information about religious bias aimed at the Roman Catholic Church and bearing directly on the trial at issue. Conversely, the question actually propounded by the trial court in Casey neglected to frame the bias question with precision.
I believe that the question requested by Thomas in the case at bar is more akin to the nebulous question posed by the trial *222court in Casey, which we concluded “was not sufficient to determine possible cause for disqualification by reason of bias or prejudice or otherwise.” Id. at 606, 143 A.2d at 631. As in Casey, the question requested by Thomas “was in a form so general that it is likely it [would] not sufficiently indicate to the panel of jurors what possible bias or prejudice was being probed.” Id. Thomas’s requested question lends itself to triggering a cerebral fishing expedition in an attempt for the venire panel to look within themselves to ascertain the possible meaning of what it means to be prejudiced by “strong feelings regarding violations of the narcotics laws.”
I do not take exception to the notion that if requested and not otherwise adequately addressed in the questioning, the trial court should query the panel about their attitude or mental state with regard to the specific crime involved. See Casey, 217 Md. at 605, 143 A.2d at 631 (stating, “it is also well settled that parties to an action triable before a jury have a right to have questions propounded to prospective jurors on their voir dire, which are directed to a specific cause for disqualification, and failure to allow such questions is an abuse of discretion constituting reversible error”) (emphasis in original). To be sure, the trial court must be free to exercise discretion in examining venire panels concerning fairness and impartiality. Any requirement that the trial court pose amorphous and ill-defined voir dire questions such as the question proposed by Thomas in the case at bar would undermine the long-held discretionary function of the trial judge in the voir dire process. As we explained in Davis:
where- the parties identify an area of potential bias and •properly request voir dire questions designed to ascertain jurors whose bias could interfere with their ability to fairly and impartially decide the issues, then the trial judge has an obligation to ask those questions of the venire panel ... Those voir dire questions, however, should be framed so as to identify potential jurors with biases which are cause for disqualification, rather than merely identifying potential jurors with attitudes or associations which might facilitate the exercise of peremptory challenges.
*223Davis, 333 Md. at 47, 633 A.2d at 877 (emphasis added); Cf. Gilchrist v. State, 97 Md.App. 55, 78, 627 A.2d 44, 55 (1993)(Wilner, C.J., concurring) (explaining his belief that peremptory challenges should be eliminated as a matter of public policy because “precious judicial time and resources are being sidetracked.”)
Therefore, I conclude that in the case sub judice the trial judge properly exercised his discretion in disallowing Thomas’s proposed inquiry into the panel members’ “feelings” concerning “violations of the narcotics laws.” Such an inquiry would have done nothing more than to facilitate Thomas’s exercise of peremptory challenges. See Davis, 333 Md. at 47, 633 A.2d at 877. If the majority is desirous of expanding Maryland’s traditionally conservative voir dire process to include eliciting information to aid the attorneys in exercising peremptory challenges, then it should do so explicitly and without reservation. Until such time as that happens, litigants will be charged with the difficult task of determining' the limitations of the majority opinion in developing voir dire questions and trial courts will be left to speculate as to whether the voir dire really is designed to support strikes for cause or peremptory challenges.