Court Opinion

ID: 9490100
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:32:37.79076+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:53.698971
License: Public Domain

McMILLIAN, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. This is not a typical juror qualification case. “Rulings on juror qualifications will not be interfered with on appeal absent a clear showing of abuse of the sound discretion that is vested in the District Court. Unless actual bias is shown the [District] Court’s refusal to strike potential jurors will not be deemed a basis for error.” United States v. Young, 558 F.2d 1132, 1136 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 431 U.S. 959, 97 S.Ct. 2686, 53 L.Ed.2d 278 (1977). Rather, the present case involves overlapping jury veni-res; some of the prospective jurors in the present ease were members of the venire in the first trial. See United States v. Patterson, 648 F.2d 625, 629-30 (9th Cir.1981). As noted by the majority opinion, “the mere selection of jurors from panels who may have previously participated in voir dire, even in a similar case, is not error, unless actual bias is shown.” United States v. Dion, 762 F.2d 674, 693 (8th Cir.1985) (citations omitted), rev’d on other grounds, 476 U.S. 734, 106 S.Ct. 2216, 90 L.Ed.2d 767 (1986).
In the present ease, however, the prospective jurors did more than participate in voir dire in connection with the first trial. At least one prospective juror, Camila Norton, discussed the first trial with “Nina,” one of the jurors who had served on the jury in the first ease. Some of the other prospective jurors probably overheard their conversation. Nina told Norton what she thought about the evidence and what she thought the outcome should have been. The prospective jurors already knew that the first trial had involved the same charges but had ended in a mistrial. These circumstances suggest a significant risk of prejudice, which, in my view, was not negated by either examination or admonition of the prospective jurors. Except for Norton, examination of the prospective jurors focused on the fact that the first trial ended in a mistrial, not whether they had overheard Nina discuss the evidence and what the outcome should have been or, if they had, whether that information would have had any influence on them. Of the 18 “overlapping” prospective jurors, 6, including Norton, served on the jury in the second trial.
For this reason, I would hold the district court erred in denying the motion to strike the overlapping jury venires, see McClendon v. United States, 587 F.2d 384, 386-87 (8th Cir.1978) (35 prospective jurors called to trial of another but involving similar charges and same witnesses were not called to defendant’s trial; jury chosen from remaining 37 prospective jurors), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 983, 99 S.Ct. 1793, 60 L.Ed.2d 244 (1979), and reverse and remand for further proceedings.