Court Opinion

ID: 9797092
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 04:13:12.140339+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:52:33.230699
License: Public Domain

DURRANT, Justice,
dissenting:
¶22 I respectfully dissent. I agree with the majority’s conclusion that State v. Widdison, 2001 UT 60, 28 P.3d 1278, controls this case because, like Widdison, this case is presented to us as a post-conviction appeal, which enables us to “assess the composition of the jury as it was actually impaneled to determine whether [Parley Parker Pratt] Stubbs was ultimately tried by a fair and impartial jury.” Supra ¶ 16.
¶ 23 I disagree, however, with the majority’s conclusion that State v. James, 767 P.2d 549 (Utah 1989), also applies to this case. The James and Widdison tests are distinct in that James is predictive. It poses the question of whether a defendant is likely to obtain a fair and impartial jury. Widdison, on the other hand, poses the question of whether a defendant was, in fact, tried by a fair and impartial jury.
¶ 24 In James, we delineated four factors that an appellate court should examine to determine whether a trial court has abused its discretion in denying a motion for a change of venue: “(1) the standing of the victim and the accused in the community; (2) the size of the community; (3) the nature and gravity of the offense; and (4) the nature and extent of publicity.” 767 P.2d at 552. After setting forth those factors, we expressly recognized that James was “[u]nlike any of the other cases coming before this Court where the trial court has denied a motion for a change of venue,” because it came to us as an interlocutory appeal, before the case had *413been tried. Id. at 555. We noted that this unique procedural posture provided us with the “opportunity to review the denial before any error committed would be prejudicial.” Id.
¶ 25 Unlike James, in Widdison, the question of whether the district court had abused its discretion in denying a motion’ for a change of venue came to us after the case had “already been tried and decided by a jury.” Widdison, 2001 UT 60 at ¶ 38, 28 P.3d 1278. Because the “unique circumstance of the interlocutory appeal,” id., that existed in James did not exist in Widdison, we specifically declined to apply the James analysis to post-conviction appeals. See id. (“On appeal from a jury verdict, we do not look to the James factors to determine whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying a change of venue.”). Instead, we determined that the proper post-conviction test was “whether [the] defendant was ultimately tried by a fair and impartial jury.” Id. Applying that test to the facts, we held that, because the defendant had passed the jury for cause, thereby acknowledging its impartiality, and because the defendant was “unable to point to any specific evidence of impartiality or bias,” the trial court properly exercised its discretion in denying the change of venue. Id. at ¶ 39.
¶26 I can see no principled basis for departing from our conclusion in Widdison that the James analysis should be applied only when a jury decision has not yet been rendered. If the jury ultimately selected did in fact prove to be fair and impartial, in my view, the James factors — the standing of the victim and accused in the community, the size of the community, the nature and gravity of the offense, and nature and extent of the publicity — are irrelevant. In other words, regardless of the nature of the community and the scope of the publicity, if a particular juror was unaware of that publicity or had no connection to the defendant or the prosecuto-rial witnesses or other connections to the case, those factors would be of no consequence.
¶ 27 The majority suggests, however, that those factors may nevertheless be relevant in assessing the jury that was actually seated. In my view, the Widdison test is fully up to the task of determining whether that jury was impartial. It addresses those situations in which a juror was actually affected or may have been influenced by some relationship to a trial participant. It addresses any influence that publicity may have had on a particular juror. It allows a factual inquiry into any factor that could have affected fairness or impartiality.
¶ 28 Moreover, the Widdison test may be applied to assess the cumulative effect of contacts involving individual jurors that, standing alone, may not have been problematic. In my opinion, once a jury has been empaneled, a trial has been held, and a verdict has been returned, a court need only inquire as to the influence of publicity or the nature of the community on the jurors actually seated as opposed to making a broader examination of the demographies of the community or the extent of the publicity associated with the case.
¶ 29 In this case, there were multiple jurors with contacts to participants in or relatives of participants in the trial process. These contacts may well have been sufficient to call into question the jury’s fairness and impartiality. My review of the record suggests, however, that defense counsel failed to properly object to these jurors. State v. Johnson, 774 P.2d 1141, 1144-45 (Utah 1989) (requiring timely and specific objection to properly preserve issue for appellate review); see State v. Gray, 851 P.2d 1217, 1223 (Utah Ct.App.1993) (requiring an objection to be stated “in distinct and specific terms” to properly preserve for appellate review a “for cause” challenge to a prospective juror), cert. denied, 860 P.2d 943 (Utah 1993).
¶ 30 During the course of voir dire, defense counsel made a “general objection” to the panel before moving for a change of venue. After the district court denied that motion, defense counsel raised no additional objections to the jury in the remainder of the voir dire.1 I find no suggestion in the record that *414the judge was unwilling to consider a request to excuse jurors for cause.2 In each instance where defense counsel registered an objection as to a specific juror, the juror was excused for cause. At the conclusion of voir dire, both counsel passed the jury for cause.
¶ 31 Defendant has pressed no plain error argument on appeal. Both because the James test is inapplicable to this case and because Stubbs has failed to properly preserve the issue of jury impartiality for appellate review, I would reverse the court of appeals.
¶ 32 Associate Chief Justice WILKINS concurs in Justice DURRANT’s dissenting opinion.

. The only other mention of a biased jury occurred after jury selection was complete, after the court had admonished the jury, and after the court had allowed the jury to recess for lunch. *414In that instance, defense counsel asked the court to clarify whether in denying his motion for a change of venue the court also denied his objection to the panel as a whole on the basis of implied bias. When the court replied that it had intended to deny both the motion and the objection, the defense counsel did not renew his objection.

. In fact, the district court removed eleven jurors for cause. During the initial voir dire the trial court, sua sponte, removed four prospective jurors for cause. In chambers, the defense counsel made "for cause” challenges to three jurors, whom the court subsequently dismissed. Then, after the court denied the motion for a change of venue, during additional voir dire, the district court removed, sua sponte, four prospective jurors.