Court Opinion

ID: 9769270
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 14:42:44.207206+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:36:31.561798
License: Public Domain

SHRUM, Chief Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Unlike the majority, I believe the trial court did abuse its discretion by not granting plaintiffs’ challenge for cause of Juror Pollett.
“Under our system of jurisprudence there is no feature of a trial more important ... than that every litigant shall be accorded a fair trial before a jury ... who enter upon the trial totally disinterested and wholly unprejudiced.” Theobald v. St. Louis Transit Co., 191 Mo. 395, 90 S.W. 354, 359 (1905). Consequently, “[pjersons whose opinions or beliefs preclude them from following the law as declared by the court in its instructions [are among those who] are ineligible to serve as jurors on that case.” § 494.470.2, RSMo 1994.
In Theobald, our Supreme Court said:
“The question of the qualification of a juror is a question to be decided by the court, and not one to be decided by a juror himself. It is the prerogative and duty of the trial court to exercise a wise, judicial discretion in this regard, and the conclusion of the court should rest upon the facts stated by the juror with reference to his state of mind, and should not be allowed to *908depend upon the conclusions of the juror as to whether or not he could or would divest himself of a prejudice he admitted existed in his mind. And this is true whether the prejudice exists against either of the parties or against the character of the subject-matter in litigation, or against either of the parties as a class, and not against the party as an individual. It is proper to examine a juror as to the nature, character, and cause of his prejudice or bias, but it is not proper to permit the juror, who admits the existence in his mind of such prejudice or bias, to determine whether or not he can or cannot, under his oath, render an impartial verdict. Such a course permits the juror to be the judge of his qualifications, instead of requiring the court to pass upon them as questions of fact.”
Theobald, 90 S.W. at 359.
More recently, the Supreme Court has cited and explained Theobald in Ray v. Gream, 860 S.W.2d 325 (Mo. banc 1993):
“The key point of Theobald is not that the court is prohibited from basing its determination on the opinions or conclusions of the jurors, but that the trial court must make an independent determination of the jurors’ qualifications. That task is accomplished when the trial court reviews and evaluates the jurors’ conclusions and weighs them against the earlier admissions of prejudice. It is in that sense that the requirement for an independent determination is not inconsistent with the court’s reliance on those conclusions.
“In some cases, such as Theobald,[ ] the initial indication that a juror is prejudiced may be so strong as to require more than the testimony that the prejudice can be set aside. In these instances, the opinion or conclusion of the jurors must be discounted, at least to some extent, and absent other evidence that the juror could in fact serve impartially, the challenge for cause should be sustained.”
Id. at 334. (footnote omitted).
I view Juror Pollett’s first indications of bias, as recited in the majority opinion, to be as strong as those in Theobald, thus requiring more evidence than was adduced here to overcome them. The sole rehabilitative question posed to the panel and relied upon by the majority was phrased thusly:
“I need to know if you think in your mind and heart that I can sit and listen to the evidence in this case and regardless of what my beliefs may be or may not be, I can be fair to all parties and I can decide based not on arguments, not on catch phrases, but based on what I hear from the witnesses and what I see from the exhibits.
“Now, is there anybody here that can’t do that?”
The trial court’s decision that Juror Pollett was qualified to serve was based solely on Pollett’s failure to respond affirmatively to this single question. Although Pollett did not respond, his silence does not constitute an avowal to follow the instructions of the court. See 494.470.2, RSMo 1994. The rehabilitative question was incomplete as it did not inquire of the jury panel whether they could follow the instructions of the court; consequently the reasonable inferences that can be drawn from Pollett’s silence do not permit a complete evaluation of his qualifications. Moreover, there is no avowal by Pol-lett anywhere in the record that he would follow the instructions of the court. In summary, Pollett stated no facts from which it can be inferred that he could or would follow the law.
While Gream instructs that the trial court may rely on jurors’ self-assessments, it also teaches that such reliance is unjustified in cases of strong prejudice. I believe that the facts here mirror the latter situation. Under the circumstances, I would hold that the court’s singular dependence on Juror Pol-lett’s opinion of his own qualification was an abuse of its discretion, that the challenge for cause should have been sustained, and that prejudicial error resulted. I would reverse and remand.