Court Opinion

ID: 9532222
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:19:20.308048+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:42.437428
License: Public Domain

Shearing, J.,
dissenting:
I would affirm the conviction. I do not believe that the complete voir dire of Prospective Juror 89 demonstrates that he could not be a fair and impartial juror. In fact, his responses to questioning on voir dire reveal that Juror 89 was only perhaps more frank than other jurors — not that he could not be fair and impartial. Juror 89’s initial testimony was that he thought the defendant looked guilty. However, he later stated, “I judge a lot of people by the way they look, walk, talk, dress and everything. And then wait until they open their mouth and then I form another opinion. I see a lot of people every day and do that.” He explained that he evaluates people routinely while at work in the casino, but also changes his opinion of them as he learns more about them. Juror 89 also stated his belief that most people do what he does. Further, he stated that he had not formed a view as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant.
The quote in the majority’s opinion in which the prospective juror says, “[hje’s guilty,” is taken out of context. When read in context, it is clear that that statement was not meant to be an expression of his opinion regarding the guilt of the defendant. The dialogue on voir dire proceeded as follows:
MR. CHRISTOPHERSON: Now, if Mr. Moore were to take the stand and testified and didn’t come off being real intelligent, would that affect your evaluation of his guilt or innocence?
PROSPECTIVE JUROR NO. 89: That has nothing to do with him being a criminal. There’s a lot of intelligent people who are criminals. There’s a lot of college educated people who are criminals.
MR. CHRISTOPHERSON: What has to do with him being a criminal?
PROSPECTIVE JUROR NO. 89: He’s guilty.
MR. CHRISTOPHERSON: What factors in terms of your evaluation as first value make you think he’s guilty?
*444PROSPECTIVE JUROR NO. 89: Well, right now I’m not sure.
THE COURT: [Prospective Juror 89], have you formed an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of either the defendants at this point?
PROSPECTIVE JUROR NO. 89: No, I haven’t.
Clearly, the prospective juror was saying he would only consider a person a criminal if he were guilty of a criminal charge, not that he has prejudged the case.
When viewed in context, none of the prospective juror’s statements demonstrates that he would be anything but fair and impartial. Thus, it is easy for me to see why the district court believed that the prospective juror was honest and open-minded and could be a fair and impartial juror. This court should defer to the finding of the district court judge who had the opportunity to both observe the prospective juror’s demeanor, and to listen to the way the juror answered questions. Schwenke v. State, 768 P.2d 1031, 1033 (Wyo. 1989) (stating that because trial court can more clearly observe the demeanor and responses of the jury panel during voir dire, the appellate court defers to its judgment).
The defendant’s conviction should be affirmed.