Court Opinion

ID: 9858679
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 16:34:47.954214+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:55:27.328420
License: Public Domain

SIMEONE, Presiding Judge
(concurring).
I concur with Judge McMillian that this cause should be reversed and remanded for a new trial because the trial court failed to sustain the defendant’s challenge to venireman Lawerence C. Wallace. I do so for two reasons.
First, the State of Missouri has always been committed to the doctrine that a defendant in a criminal case is entitled to a full panel of qualified jurors before he is required to make a peremptory challenge. State v. Foley, 144 Mo. 600, 46 S.W. 733, 735 (1898); State v. Lovell, 506 S.W.2d 441, 443 (Mo. Banc 1974). While some have suggested that if a particular venireman does not actually serve on the jury which hears the cause, justice has been served, State v. Land, 478 S.W.2d 290, 292 (Mo.1972), our Supreme Court has adhered to the traditional principle and has stated that “we need not change our course at this time.” State v. Land, supra, 478 S.W.2d at 292. I believe that this principle should be reexamined, but until it is, we are bound by the principle adhered to throughout our history. Hence, it is clear to me that the defendant was entitled to a full panel of qualified jurors before he is required to utilize a peremptory challenge.
Second, under our system of jurisprudence there is no feature of a trial more necessary to the pure and just administration of the law than that every litigant should be accorded a fair trial before a jury of his countrymen who enter upon the trial totally disinterested and wholly unprejudiced. Theobald v. St. Louis Transit Co., *943191 Mo. 395, 90 S.W. 354, 359 (1905). And if for any reason, statutory or otherwise, a venireman is not in a position to enter the jury box with an open mind, free from any bias, he is not a competent juror. We cannot and should not lightly disturb the finding of the trial court. Necessarily broad discretion must be vested in the trial court. “With a cross-section of society appearing as veniremen, an area is involved that not only cannot but should not be standardized. Recognition of this fact requires that there continue to be a broad discretion in the trial court . . . .” State v. Land, supra, 478 S.W .2d at 292. The test on appeal is that the ruling of the trial court will not be disturbed unless it is manifestly against the record of the voir dire examination. State v. Lovell, supra, 506 S.W.2d at 444.
In my opinion, no one of the factors regarding the qualifications of the venireman, Mr. Wallace, would be sufficient to sustain a challenge for cause. That is, I believe that, although Mr. Wallace knew the deceased, was acquainted with his father and had a son who was a policeman assigned to the same district as the deceased, each of these factors standing alone would not be sufficient to sustain a challenge for cause. When these factors are accumulated and added to the fact that the venireman discussed the matter with his son, then in my opinion, they are sufficient to require that the challenge for cause should have been sustained, despite Mr. Wallace’s assurance that he could render a fair and impartial verdict. The decision of the trial court must rest on facts stated by the venireman and does not depend upon the conclusion of the juror as to whether he could divest himself of any actual or subconscious bias. State v. Lovell, supra, 506 S.W.2d at 444; State v. Jones, 384 S.W.2d 554, 558 (Mo. 1964).
As stated above, under our system of jurisprudence a cause is to be tried by persons who are free from partiality or bias for or against the litigants. The whole spirit of Anglo-American jurisprudence is stated by Lord Mansfield: “ ‘[A juror] should be superior even to a suspicion of partiality.’ ” Billmeyer v. St. Louis Transit Co., 108 Mo. App. 6, 82 S.W. 536, 537 (1904).
In view of the cumulative facts on this record, I agree with Judge McMillian that the cause should be reversed and remanded for a new trial.