Bryant v. State, 4D98-2547.
Decision Date | 23 February 2000 |
Docket Number | No. 4D98-2547.,4D98-2547. |
Citation | 765 So.2d 68 |
Parties | Michael BRYANT, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender, and Susan D. Cline and Margaret Good-Earnest, Assistant Public Defenders, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and James J. Carney, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.
ON MOTION FOR REHEARING/CLARIFICATION
We withdraw our opinion of December 8, 1999, and substitute the following in its place.
Appellant, Michael Bryant, was charged with the sexual battery of two of his five children.1 A jury found him guilty of two counts of sexual battery on a child less than twelve years of age and one count of sexual battery on a child twelve years of age or older by a person in familial or custodial authority, crimes for which he received life sentences. Bryant raises a number of issues on appeal; however, we need reach only the first, the trial court's refusal to strike a juror for cause. We find merit in Bryant's claim that such refusal was error, reverse his convictions, and remand for a new trial.
Because we conclude that the juror at issue should have been stricken for cause despite his last-minute pledge that he could be fair, it is necessary to set forth at length the responses that the juror gave during voir dire to demonstrate the context in which these assurances of fairness were made:
At this point, the court asked "objections," seeking a determination as to whether counsel had any objections to her excusing Green.2 Defense counsel apparently misunderstood and believed that the judge was asking whether he had any objection to Green sitting as a juror; accordingly, defense counsel indicated that he objected.
As a result, further questions were posed to Green.
When the misunderstanding between defense counsel and the trial judge was cleared up, defense counsel sought to have Green stricken expressing his concern that if Mr. Green was having difficulty accepting the notion of five accusations "this guys head will be spinning" when he realizes the allegations are going to be that it happened sixty times. The trial judge, however, refused to strike Green, pointing to the fact that, by the time defense counsel clarified himself, in response to further questioning, Green indicated that he...
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