Court Opinion

ID: 9845421
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:21:36.271319+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:07.156277
License: Public Domain

Nichols, Justice,
dissenting.
The majority use the "highly probable test” to conclude as a matter of law that the error was harmful; hence, that the judgment should be reversed. The harm perceived by the majority is "the power [of the defendants] to select a jury presumably balanced in... [the defendants’] favor by challenging a greater number of jurors.” I would apply the same test to affirm because I am strongly of the opinion that it is highly probable that giving the defendants three strikes more than the plaintiffs did not contribute to the verdict. Particularly is affirmance suggested as the proper result by the fact that the record and transcript are silent as to whether or not the plaintiffs even bothered to expend the three strikes they had. If (as we must presume) the plaintiffs did not utilize their strikes then they are at least partially responsible for any imbalance of the jury in favor of the defendants.