Court Opinion

ID: 9771799
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 16:53:47.725873+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:36.894930
License: Public Domain

HOLSTEIN, Judge,
concurring.
I fully concur in the majority opinion. In view of Judge Greene’s concurring opinion, I believe some further explanation is necessary.
The State may waive the sufficiency of the form of the notice required by Rule 32.08 by failing to make a timely objection to the insufficient notice; however, I believe the State cannot be faulted for a lack of diligence in this case. The State had three days, at most, in which to react. As the ruling was favorable to the State, the State had no obligation to enter a “special appearance” to contest the notice. The holding in State ex rel. Jackson v. Thompson, 661 S.W.2d 677 (Mo.App.1983), should be limited to those cases in which a party makes a timely objection to the sufficiency of the notice by entering a special appearance for the purpose of making such objection, id. at 679. Implicit in the Jackson holding is that the State had a reasonable opportunity to object before the application was ruled on by the court. Here, the State had no such opportunity.
I also join in the majority holding that the trial court erred in failing to excuse venire person Mary Barger following her equivocal answers to defense counsel’s questions. I would add that the problems created by uncertain answers could have been avoided if the trial court had exercised its duty to control voir dire. The trial court is possessed of broad discretion to control voir dire, and its rulings will be upheld on appeal in the absence of abuse of discretion. State v. Bannister, 680 S.W.2d 141, 145 (Mo. banc 1984), cert. denied, 471 U.S. 1009, 105 S.Ct. 1879, 85 L.Ed.2d 170 (1985). We have previously ruled that where a trial court is faced with equivocal and uncertain answers on voir dire, it has a duty to make an independent inquiry into the venireman’s qualifications. State v. Brown, 669 S.W.2d 620, 623 (Mo.App.1984). Such inquiry by the court could resolve any uncertainty and assure both sides a fair and impartial jury that would judge the credibility of all witnesses by proper standards.
The trial judge who tried this case is no longer on the bench. Of necessity another *578judge will hear the case. On remand, the presiding judge of the 25th Judicial Circuit should consider requesting the Supreme Court to assign a judge to hear the case. In addition, granting a change of venue would probably resolve the problems which gave rise to the equivocal answers by the prospective jurors.