Court Opinion

ID: 9479822
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:29:48.489625+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:17.929227
License: Public Domain

ROBINSON, Senior Circuit Judge,
concurring in part, and concurring in the judgment:
I join my colleagues in sustaining the District Court’s denial of Joseph’s motion to suppress the drugs and the handgun found in the tote bag. My analysis and as well my earlier concerns on that score, however, go beyond the discussion in Part 11(A) of the majority opinion. I also agree, but for reasons incongruent with those expressed in Part 11(B) of that opinion, that the District Court did not err in dismissing the Reverend Mr. Walls from the panel of prospective jurors. Consequently, I write separately to explain my position on these two matters. I concur unreservedly in Part 11(C) of the majority opinion, confirming the sufficiency of the evidence to support Joseph’s convictions.
I
It is settled that “a search conducted pursuant to a valid consent is constitutionally permissible.” 1 It is equally well established, however, that “[wjhen a prosecutor seeks to rely upon consent to justify the lawfulness of a search, he has the burden of proving that the consent was, in fact, freely and voluntarily given.” 2 When the *127police officers asked Joseph to countenance a search of the bag, his initial response was clearly of that caliber.3 But the officers’ testimony did not foreclose the possibility that Joseph manifested a change of mind, and a revocation of his prior consent, when he thrust his hand into the bag as Officer Curley began to remove its contents.
That single act, without further elucidation, was pregnant with ambiguity. Was Joseph seeking merely to protect his underwear from public exposure, or was he trying to halt any further examination of the bag? If the latter, was the officers’ responsive action coercive, and thus destructive of the voluntariness of the consent originally expressed?4 Officer Brennan testified that when Joseph intruded, “I stopped him from doing that,”5 but he did not explain how he stopped him.6 What was Brennan’s tone of voice when he said to Joseph, “[i]f you’ve given the officer permission to search the bag, why don’t you let him search it”?7 What gestures, if any, accompanied the words spoken? Answers to these and similar questions might have shed light upon this equivocal episode.
Nonetheless, no adequate basis for upsetting the District Court’s ruling on the motion to suppress is apparent. Since neither Joseph nor his companion testified or offered any other evidence, the factual version presented by the Government stood wholly uncontradicted, and paved the way to the District Court’s conclusion. The court observed the demeanor of the Government’s witnesses as they detailed the hand-reaching incident; it heard them testify that after the bag was moved from the heavily-traveled main concourse of Union Station to the comparative seclusion of the customer service area, the search continued without further interference by Joseph.8 The court announced that it credited the officers’ testimony,9 and expressly found that Joseph did not withdraw his consent to the search.10 We must accept that finding unless it was clearly erroneous,11 and plainly it was not.
II
On voir dire examination, the District Court directed to the panel of prospective jurors a series of inquiries on a variety of subjects, including whether any had assisted in a program of drug rehabilitation.12 Several, including Mr. Walls, answered in the affirmative, after which they were brought to the bench individually for additional questioning. When Mr. Walls was reached, he confirmed the court’s understanding that he was pastor of a local church,13 and acknowledged that he “work[ed] with concerned citizens helping folks who are on drugs that want to get *128off.”14 When the court asked whether “that would prevent you from being a fair and impartial juror in this case,” 15 the response was “Well, I want to do what’s right. I have a conscious [sic].” 16 When the court inquired as to whether “you can make determinations about people,” 17 the answer was “Yes, I can.” 18
The questioning then shifted to a related subject. The court asked whether his “religious [sic] prejudiced him from sitting in judgment on somebody.” 19 Mr. Walls stated:
If I have the evidence myself. If I am exactly sure I can go all the way. Circumstantial evidence I wouldn’t. But if I am sure.20
The court then told him that the correct standard was “beyond a reasonable doubt,”21 and explained the meaning of the term.22 Mr. Walls said that he under-stood23 and could apply that standard,24 but immediately thereafter a problem arose. The court informed him that it would “give you certain instructions as to the law and that those must be followed in this Courtroom,”25 and thereupon posed this question:
The fact that you might have some beliefs that are different from those or that you believe that the Good Lord has ordered you to do something different from what I tell you, can you make sure that you are listening to me in this case.26
Mr. Walls’ reply thereto was “No. I will listen to the Good Lord. I will listen to what he wants. I am under his supervision;” 27 a bit later he added that “He will give me a mind to think. I’m pretty close to him [sic]. I am not trying to be eon-temptious [sic] but I want to make sure I make the right decision.”28 The court then made its final inquiry:
Well, what you are saying is that if there is a conflict between what the Lord has told you and what I’m telling you, the Lord prevails.29
Mr. Walls said “That’s right,” 30 and at this point he was dismissed.31
Joseph claims that the dismissal deprived him of “a fair jury panel that is drawn from a cross section of the community.”32 He declares that the District Court’s action “raises the specter of the exclusion of jurors by class.”33 The Government insists that Joseph falls short in his endeavor to *129demonstrate such a transgression.34 After considerable discussion, my colleagues agree, and dispose of Joseph’s contentions on that basis.35
Unlike the parties and the majority, I see no need to travel that tortuous route. The record establishes beyond peradventure that Mr. Walls would disobey the District Court’s instructions whenever he felt that they collided with his religious tenets. The record is equally emphatic in its showing that he was dismissed for that reason alone.36
The case at bar seems indistinguishable from Lockett v. Ohio,37 in which potential jurors were excused after they said that by reason of their opposition to capital punishment, they could not “take an oath to well and truely [sic] try this case ... and follow the law.”38 The Supreme Court upheld their dismissal because it was “ ‘unmistakably clear’ that they could not be trusted to ‘abide by existing law’ and ‘to follow conscientiously the instructions’ of the trial judge.”39 With particular reference to a fair-cross-section contention there presented, the Court rejected the notion “that the right to a representative jury includes the right to be tried by jurors who have explicitly indicated an inability to follow the law and instructions of the trial judge.”40 Lockett thus demolishes at the outset the thesis advanced by Joseph and meticulously analyzed and dismantled by the majority, and furnishes the short but complete answer to all that Joseph argues.41
Thus stripped of its constitutional overtones, Joseph’s protest amounts to no more than a claim that the District Court erred as a matter of ordinary law, and as such it is doomed to failure. A district court has wide latitude in conducting voir dire proceedings, including the form, nature and range of questions put to potential jurors,42 and its action in this regard “is entitled, even on direct appeal, to ‘special deference.’ ”43 If the court’s exclusion of a pro-
*130spective juror is “fairly supported by the record,” it will not be upset.44 That is because trial courts are in a unique position to assess the demeanor and credibility of those under consideration for petit jury service, and thus to safeguard the accused’s Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury.45 The court’s discretion in this area, of course, is not unbounded. The court may err either in failing to investigate the existence and strength of potential bias,46 or, on the other hand, by disqualifying a potential juror holding “some impression or opinion as to the merits of the case” but able to “lay aside his impression or opinion and render a verdict based on the evidence presented in court.”47 However, trial courts have the difficult task of separating those who will impartially find the facts and conscientiously apply the law from those who will not. In close eases, where the record does not clearly indicate that a particular juror falls within one category or the other, we must yield considerable deference to the trial judge’s “definite impression that a prospective juror would be unable to faithfully and impartially apply the law.”48
The situation before us, however, is not nearly so close as to require reliance on the District Court’s evaluation. Mr. Walls left no doubt that he would choose religion over the court’s instructions should there appear to him to be a conflict between the two. The District Court was plainly right in dismissing him as a prospective juror.

. Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 223, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 2045, 36 L.Ed.2d 854, 860 (1973). See also Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 497, 103 S.Ct. 1319, 1323-1324, 75 L.Ed.2d 229, 236 (1982); United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 558-559, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 1879-1880, 64 L.Ed.2d 497, 512-513 (1980); Davis v. United States, 328 U.S. 582, 593-594, 66 S.Ct. 1256, 1261-1262, 90 L.Ed. 1453, 1460-1461 (1946); Zap v. United States, 328 U.S. 624, 630, 66 S.Ct. 1277, 1280, 90 L.Ed. 1477, 1483 (1946).

. Bumper v. North Carolina, 391 U.S. 543, 548, 88 S.Ct. 1788, 1792, 20 L.Ed.2d 797, 802 (1968). See also Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, supra note 1, 412 U.S. at 222, 93 S.Ct. at 2045, 36 L.Ed.2d at 860; Florida v. Royer, supra note 1, 460 U.S. at 497, 103 S.Ct. at 1324, 75 L.Ed.2d at 236; United *127States v. Mendenhall, supra note 1, 446 U.S. at 557, 100 S.Ct. at 1879, 64 L.Ed.2d at 511.

. Compare Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, supra note 1, 412 U.S. at 220, 93 S.Ct. at 2044, 36 L.Ed.2d at 858-859; Florida v. Royer, supra note 1, 460 U.S. at 494-495, 103 S.Ct. at 1322-1323, 75 L.Ed.2d at 234; United States v. Mendenhall, supra note 1, 446 U.S. at 548, 100 S.Ct. at 1874, 64 L.Ed.2d at 505.

. Compare Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, supra note 1, 412 U.S. at 228-229, 93 S.Ct. at 2048-2049, 36 L.Ed.2d at 863-864.

. Transcript of Hearing on Motion to Suppress (Tr. I) 70.

. Since the officer stated that he feared that Joseph was reaching for a weapon in the bag, Tr. I 70-71, a feeble or gentle reaction presumably was not a priority.

. Tr. I 71.

. Tr. I 13-14, 72.

. Tr. I 98.

. Id.

. Campbell v. United States, 373 U.S. 487, 493, 83 S.Ct. 1356, 1360, 10 L.Ed.2d 501, 507 (1963); Jackson v. United States, 122 U.S.App.D.C. 324, 326-327, 353 F.2d 862, 864-865 (1965). See also Maine v. Taylor, 477 U.S. 131, 145, 106 S.Ct. 2440, 2451, 91 L.Ed.2d 110, 125 (1986); United States v. Thomas, 275 U.S.App.D.C. 21, 24, 864 F.2d 843, 846 (1989). Undeniably, voluntariness of consent to search is a question of fact. Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, supra note 1, 412 U.S. at 248-249, 93 S.Ct. at 2058-2059, 36 L.Ed.2d at 875.

. Transcript of Trial Proceedings (Tr. II) 16.

. Tr. II 73.

. Tr. II 73.

. Tr. II 73.

. Tr. II 73-74.

. Tr. II 74.

. Tr. II 74.

. Tr. II 74.

. Tr. II 74.

. Tr. II 74.

. ' Tr. II 74.

. Tr. II 74.

. Tr. II 74.

. Tr. II 75.

. Tr. II 75.

. Tr. II 75.

. Tr. II 75.

. Tr. II 75.

. Tr. II 75.

. Tr. II 75.

. Brief for Appellant at 26. See, e.g., Duren v. Missouri, 439 U.S. 357, 364, 99 S.Ct. 664, 668, 58 L.Ed.2d 579, 586-587 (1979); Taylor v. Louisiana, 419 U.S. 522, 530, 95 S.Ct. 692, 697-698, 42 L.Ed.2d 690, 698 (1975); Smith v. Texas, 311 U.S. 128, 130, 61 S.Ct. 164, 165, 85 L.Ed. 84, 86 (1940).

. Brief for Appellant at 27. See, e.g., Duren v. Missouri, supra note 32, 439 U.S. at 364, 99 S.Ct. at 668, 58 L.Ed.2d at 586-587; Avery v. Georgia, 345 U.S. 559, 561-562, 73 S.Ct. 891, 892-893, 97 L.Ed 1244, 1247-1248 (1953); Ballard v. United States, 329 U.S. 187, 193, 67 S.Ct. 261, 264, 91 L.Ed. 181, 185-186 (1946). The theory underlying Joseph’s arguments seems to be that countless individuals asked the questions put to Mr. Walls would give the same answers, with the result that everybody with strong religious commitments would be excluded from petit juror service. See Majority Opinion 122.

. Brief for Appellee at 17-20. The Supreme Court teaches us that
[i]n order to establish a prima facie violation of the fair-cross-section requirement, the defendant must show (1) that the group alleged to be excluded is a "distinctive" group in the community; (2) that the representation of this group in venires from which jurors are selected is not fair and reasonable in relation to the number of such persons in the community; and (3) that this underrepresentation is due to systematic exclusion of the group in the jury-selection process.
Duren v. Missouri, supra note 32, 439 U.S. at 364, 99 S.Ct. at 668, 58 L.Ed.2d at 586-587.

. Maj.Op. 122-125.

. Additionally to what has been said, Joseph's counsel objected to dismissal of Mr. Walls, contending that "the question you are asking [Mr. Walls] is sort of like something that you would ask him to do that would be so unconscionable.” Tr. II 76. The judge overruled the objection explaining that "[t]here are times when the Court has to give directions and instructions. I could not tolerate somebody suggesting to me that my instructions would not be carried out.” Tr. II 76.

. 438 U.S. 586, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978).

. Id. at 595-596, 98 S.Ct. at 2959-2960, 57 L.Ed.2d at 983-985.

. Id. at 596, 98 S.Ct. at 2960, 57 L.Ed.2d at 984 (quoting Boulden v. Holman, 394 U.S. 478, 484, 89 S.Ct. 1138, 1142, 22 L.Ed.2d 433, 439 (1969)).

. Id. 438 U.S. at 596-597, 98 S.Ct. at 2960-2961, 57 L.Ed.2d at 984-985.

. To be sure, Lockett involved exclusion of prospective jurors for their unalterable stance against the death penalty. The Supreme Court, however, has recognized that the same analysis applies to juror-exclusion cases of all types, Wainwright v. Witt, 469 U.S. 412, 423, 105 S.Ct. 844, 852, 83 L.Ed.2d 841, 851 (1985), because "the quest is for jurors who will conscientiously apply the law and find the facts. That is what an impartial jury consists of." Id.

. Ham v. South Carolina, 409 U.S. 524, 527, 93 S.Ct. 848, 850-851, 35 L.Ed.2d 46, 50 (1973); Connors v. United States, 158 U.S. 408, 413, 15 S.Ct. 951, 953, 39 L.Ed. 1033, 1035 (1895); United States v. Brooks, 185 U.S.App.D.C. 267, 271, 567 F.2d 134, 138 (1977); United States v. Caldwell, 178 U.S.App.D.C. 20, 32, 543 F.2d 1333, 1345 (1974).

. Patton v. Yount, 467 U.S. 1025, 1038, 104 S.Ct. 2885, 2892, 81 L.Ed.2d 847, 858 (1984). See also Wainwright v. Witt, supra note 41, 469 U.S. at 425-426, 105 S.Ct. at 852-853, 83 L.Ed.2d at 852-853; Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of U.S., Inc., 466 U.S. 485, 500, 104 S.Ct. 1949, 1959, 80 L.Ed.2d 502, 516 (1984). And see Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 723, 81 S.Ct. 1639, 1643, 6 *130L.Ed.2d 751, 756 (1961) (error must be manifest).

. Darden v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 168, 176, 106 S.Ct. 2464, 2469, 91 L.Ed.2d 144, 154 (1986).

. "The trial judge’s function at this point in the trial is not unlike that of the jurors later on in the trial. Both must reach conclusions as to impartiality and credibility by relying on their own evaluation of demeanor evidence and responses to questions." Rosales-Lopez v. United States, 451 U.S. 182, 188, 101 S.Ct. 1629, 1634, 68 L.Ed.2d 22, 28 (1981).

. Turner v. Murray, 476 U.S. 28, 106 S.Ct. 1683, 90 L.Ed.2d 27 (1985) (in a capital case where the victim is white and the accused is black); Ristaino v. Ross, 424 U.S. 589, 96 S.Ct. 1017, 47 L.Ed.2d 258 (1976) (trial where race is inextricably bound up with issues for the jury); Ham v. South Carolina, supra note 42, 409 U.S. at 527, 93 S.Ct. at 850-851, 35 L.Ed.2d at 50 (possible racial prejudice may distort consideration of factual questions); Brown v. United States, 119 U.S.App.D.C. 203, 204-205, 338 F.2d 543, 544-545 (1964) ("when important testimony is anticipated from certain categories of witnesses, whose official or semi-official status is such that a juror might reasonably be more, or less, inclined to credit their testimony, a query as to whether a juror would have such an inclination ... should be given if requested”).

. Irvin v. Dowd, supra note 43, 366 U.S. at 722-723, 81 S.Ct. at 1642-1643, 6 L.Ed.2d at 755-756 (impression created by pretrial publicity). And see Darden v. Wainwright, supra note 44, 477 U.S. at 178, 106 S.Ct. at 2470, 91 L.Ed.2d at 155 (opinion against capital punishment); Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145, 156, 25 L.Ed. 244, 246 (1878) (court must assess whether “nature and strength of opinion formed are such as in law necessarily to raise the presumption of partiality”).

. Wainwright v. Witt, supra note 41, 469 U.S. at 425-426, 105 S.Ct. at 852-853, 83 L.Ed.2d at 852-853.