Court Opinion

ID: 9617559
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:57:48.14056+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:11.764671
License: Public Domain

GERBER, Judge,
concurring and dissenting.
I respectfully dissent because in my view the trial court’s denial of the defense motion to strike the juror for cause constitutes reversible error. I agree wholeheartedly with the majority that the prosecutor’s personal attack on defense counsel as a liar is grossly unprofessional.
When a juror’s remarks indicate misgivings about impartiality, that juror should be struck for cause. State v. Rodriguez, 131 Ariz. 400, 402, 641 P.2d 888, 890 (App.1981). Challenging a juror for bias is a substantial right. State v. Thompson, 68 Ariz. 386, 389-92, 206 P.2d 1037, 1039-40 (1949). Reversible error results from failure to strike a juror for bias even when a peremptory challenge is later used to strike the juror. State v. Bingham, 176 Ariz. 146, 147, 859 P.2d 769, 770 (App.1993).
The situation here mirrors that in Rodriguez where a juror was asked by the court during voir dire whether she had strong feelings about the charged crime, a burglary. The juror, who had recently been burglarized, responded “I don’t know, because I really am very upset, I still am, about it.” Then when asked whether she would be able to set aside “any other influence [due to] previous experiences,” she answered “I would hope.” She then added: “I think I would try and be fair, [but] that would still be in the back of my mind.” Rodriguez, 131 Ariz. at 401-02, 641 P.2d at 889-90. Failure to strike her for this admission constituted reversible error.
Here, as in Rodriguez, the juror initially disclosed misgivings about her ability to be impartial (“it might cause [me] difficulty”) and ended the court’s rehabilitative effort by volunteering her inability to escape her emotional response to the crime (“[y]our emotions enter into anything”). This response clearly impliés, at least to me, that her emotions from her own victimization would continue to impede her effort to be fair and impartial. Notably, her responses to the court’s rehabilitative efforts were wholly off the mark and evaded the precise questions put to her.
Because this juror’s statements demonstrated a real impairment of her ability to be impartial, the failure to strike her is harmful error. I would reverse Smith’s convictions and remand for a new trial.