Court Opinion

ID: 9678271
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 06:15:28.497756+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:03.092203
License: Public Domain

*505BLACKMAR, Judge,
concurring.
I concur, and write separately only because of two reservations.
I.
The record shows that the grand jurors were individually selected by the Sheriff of Cole County pursuant to § 540.020.1, RSMo 1978.
Decisions sustaining the “key man” system of grand jury selection, as set out in the principal opinion, do not refer to selections made by the sheriff of the county in which the offense was committed. In State v. Bynum, 680 S.W.2d 156 (Mo. banc 1984) we held that when the sheriff made individual selection of replacement petit jurors, and exercised judgment in making these selections, the resulting jury was infirm. I do not believe that this holding has any application to the selection of grand jurors. The grand jury is an inquisitorial body which has no part in the trial. I agree with the principal opinion that the defendant cannot complain of the selection of grand jurors by the sheriff, without showing discrimination or impropriety in the selection process. It may also be of significance that, although the offense occurred in Cole County, it took place within the confines of the penitentiary, where the sheriff has minimal responsibility.
II.
I can see dangers in permitting the free use of evidence such as that involving membership in the “Aryan Nation’s Church.” I doubt that the prosecutor needed this evidence in order to show motive when the evidence of a willful, deliberate and premeditated killing was so overwhelming. There are dangers in proceeding on a “guilt by association” theory, and in the apparent ássumption that a member of a white supremacist organization would have a motive for murdering a black person. Few carry their racial prejudice that far. But the record in this case is such that I sense no prejudice in the trial result.