Court Opinion

ID: 9716071
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:25:04.358171+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:41.196933
License: Public Domain

SHARPNACK, C.J.,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I cannot agree that there is no waiver here. Plaintiff had peremptory challenges available to remove each of the two jurors she contends were biased as a matter of law. She used one peremptory challenge to remove one of those two. The other two peremptory challenges were used to remove two jurors that were apparently not subject to challenge for cause. Rather, they were removed for those subjective notions or instincts that lead trial advocates to de-se-lect certain jurors.
Our supreme court has repeatedly held that where, as here, the trial court rejects a party’s challenge for cause, and the party has not exhausted his or her peremptory strikes at the time that the challenge for cause is made, any claim regarding the rejection of the challenge for cause is waived for appellate review. See Brackens v. State, 480 N.E.2d 536, 539 (Ind.1985); Foresta v. State, 274 Ind. 658, 660, 413 N.E.2d 889, 890 (Ind.1980); Monserrate v. State, 265 Ind. 153, 157, 352 N.E.2d 721, 723 (Ind.1976). Consequently, I conclude that where a trial court may have erred in denying a party’s challenge for cause, and the party can cure such error by peremptorily removing the apparently biased veni-reperson, the party should do so in order to ensure a fair trial and an efficient resolution of the case. See Foresta, 274 Ind. at 660, 413 N.E.2d at 890 (noting that “the record reveals that defense counsel failed to exhaust his peremptory challenges, and *273thus could have had this juror removed automatically through this Procedure”).
Plaintiff asserts that such a rule places her in a “Catch-22” situation because if she had used a peremptory strike to remove a juror from the panel, then any error on the trial court’s part would have been cured. Appellant’s Brief, p. 13. She is correct that any error would have been cured, and that is precisely the point: Plaintiff could have corrected a possible error by the trial court and chose not to do so. There is no good reason to allow a party to hold an ace for reversal in the event of an unfavorable result by allowing the trial to proceed without removing a legally unqualified juror as could have been done. A party cannot excuse jurors who are otherwise qualified and keep a juror who is not qualified and thereby obtain reversal for denial of a challenge for cause.
I think this is a clear case of waiver and I would affirm.