Com. v. Benoit

• Decision Date: 18 August 2008
• Docket Number: SJC-10120
• Citation: 892 N.E.2d 314,452 Mass. 212
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH v. Tyson J. BENOIT.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

892 N.E.2d 314

452 Mass. 212

COMMONWEALTH v. Tyson J. BENOIT.

SJC-10120

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Berkshire.

Argued April 9, 2008.

Decided August 18, 2008.

Jane Larmon White, Committee for Public Counsel Services, Boston, for the defendant.

Paul J. Caccaviello, Assistant District Attorney (Karen L. Carlo, Assistant District Attorney, with him) for the Commonwealth.

Daniel R. Williams, Lisa J. Steele, & David M. Siegel, Boston, for Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers & another, amici curiae, submitted a brief.

Present: MARSHALL, C.J., GREANEY, IRELAND, SPINA, COWIN, CORDY, & BOTSFORD, JJ.

BOTSFORD, J.

The defendant was convicted of murder in the second degree by a jury in the Superior Court. On appeal, he argues that (1) the Commonwealth's peremptory challenge to the only eligible African-American juror violated his Federal and State constitutional rights because the prosecutor's proffered reasons supporting the challenge were inadequate; (2) the judge erred in denying his request for an instruction on self-defense; (3) the judge erred in excluding prior recent acts of aggression by the victim that were relevant to the issue of provocation, and therefore relevant to whether the defendant was guilty of manslaughter rather than murder; (4) in his closing argument the prosecutor improperly referred to a matter that had been excluded from evidence; and (5) the judge improperly denied the defendant's motion for a change of venue. We granted his application for direct appellate review. Because we conclude that the Commonwealth did not meet its burden of demonstrating a race-neutral, individualized basis for its peremptory challenge, we reverse the defendant's conviction. Following the discussion of this issue, we consider those of the defendant's other arguments that may arise on retrial.

1. Peremptory challenge. a. Background.¹ The defendant was tried on a single indictment charging him with murder in the first degree of Anthony Hopkins. The events giving rise to the charge occurred in Pittsfield on May 30, 2005. The defendant, who is black, was seventeen years of age; the victim, Anthony Hopkins, was white, and eighteen years of age.

By the time the trial began in January, 2007, there was no dispute between the Commonwealth and the defendant that the victim had died as a result of stab wounds inflicted by the defendant with a knife during a fight between the two young men outside of the victim's home in Pittsfield. And there was also no dispute that race was likely to arise at least as a tangential issue at trial. In particular, at the time of his arrest on May 30, 2005, some hours after the fight with and resulting death of the victim, the defendant gave a statement to the police in which he said that immediately before the actual physical confrontation between him and the victim began, the victim "was on his porch saying that, `I'm going to stab you nigger, this and that.'" The Commonwealth was intending to introduce the defendant's statement in evidence at trial. In addition, the Commonwealth had given notice that it would seek to introduce evidence of an earlier statement of the defendant to his brother, describing an encounter between the victim and the defendant approximately one year before the confrontation leading to the victim's death. The defendant had stated to his brother that in that earlier encounter, the victim, accompanied by one friend who was white, had called the defendant, who was with three friends who were black, names, like "nigger this, nigger that," causing a fight to erupt, and in that fight the victim ultimately "got the best of" the defendant and his friends.

Trial commenced on January 2, 2007. Because the case involved the killing of a white man by a black man, individual voir dire was required. Commonwealth v. Young, 401 Mass. 390, 398, 517 N.E.2d 130 (1987), overruled in part on another ground in Commonwealth v. Ramirez, 407 Mass. 553, 555, 555 N.E.2d 208 (1990).

The juror in question was juror no. 47. At the time the judge questioned her individually, she was the only black juror remaining in the venire.² In response to the judge's question, the juror stated that she had read about the case in the newspaper, and had heard about it over the radio, but did not really remember any details. She indicated that she had not formed any opinions from what she read or heard that would prevent her from being fair, but also stated, "I really wish I wouldn't have to [serve as a juror on the case].... You hear so much on TV with murders and read so much in the paper, after a while it kind of stresses you out a little bit." Nonetheless, when the judge told her that "fair and open minded people [are needed] to hear these types of cases," the juror stated that she could decide the case based on the evidence and not on what she had read or heard. She also stated that she would have no difficulty being fair and impartial about the case, and could make judgments about the credibility of black and white witnesses fairly and without race being a factor.³ The judge's last question to the juror confirmed that she worked at a school as a teacher's assistant. The judge then found the juror to be indifferent, and asked the juror to step outside for a moment.⁴ The prosecutor thereupon asked the judge to ask further questions of the juror about her work as a teacher's assistant at a "school for handicapped and learning disabilities," and about the juror's level of stress, commenting, "[o]bviously, she doesn't want to do this because she gets stressed out. My fear is that stressed out factor and how stressed out does she get." The judge acquiesced in the prosecutor's request, and had the juror brought back for further questioning.

In this second inquiry, in answer to the judge's questions about her job, the juror described the children with whom she worked at the school and what she did there,⁵ and the judge then asked some questions about stress. The juror began by stating that she hated violence, but in response to a specific question whether dealing with stress would be a problem for her if she were a juror, she responded, "No. I just want to do the right thing, that's all. You know what I'm saying? I'd talk it over with the other jurors and see, should we put, prosecute this person? You know what I'm saying? We are sitting right there together. I wouldn't talk outside to them." The juror indicated that she had been a juror before, and described that prior case as one involving drugs and the sexual abuse of a child. The judge then asked whether serving as a juror on that case had been a stressful experience, and the following exchange took place:

THE JUROR: "Well, I got myself together. But I felt sorry for the girl. If one of my —"

THE JUDGE: "I don't want to talk about the case. I want to talk about the effect it had on you. Was it too stressful for you?"

THE JUROR: "No. What I was saying now, I just felt sorry for the girl. We solved the case. He was guilty. He raped the child. He was bothering with the girl and the grandmother wasn't aware. He was living in the home. It was sick."

The judge again found the juror indifferent, and asked her once more to step outside. The prosecutor then exercised a peremptory challenge of the juror, and the defense counsel objected on the grounds that this was the single black juror in the pool, that a pattern of race-based challenges had been established, and that race might be an issue in the case. When the judge followed with a request to the prosecutor to respond, the prosecutor justified his challenge:

THE PROSECUTOR: "Your Honor, well, just so the record is clear, I think that in the jury pool there was another African American female that was excused for other reasons."

THE JUDGE: "That's correct."

THE PROSECUTOR: "Your Honor, I would suggest to the Court that this is a proper challenge. It's not one that I make lightly because I have obviously anticipated this objection may be raised, which is why I asked the Court to make further inquiry. I do have some concerns with her responses in terms of sympathy for parties, understandably based upon her occupation. The fact that she made a reference to a prior case where she said she actually had sympathy for one of the parties, or one of the principals, I should say, in that case, causes me some concern in this respect. I think she even volunteered what her thinking process would be in terms if she would go back to the jury and ask, `Should we prosecute this?' She didn't finish the sentence, but I think that causes me some hesitation as well as to—the question is not, should she prosecute it, obviously, the question is whether or not the facts have been presented and the Commonwealth has satisfied its burden. I think those reasons, Your Honor, give the Commonwealth legitimate cause to exercise a peremptory challenge."

The judge responded to this statement as follows:

THE JUDGE: "Well, I think that I'm constrained to find because she is the only African American juror who was not excused earlier who has come forward. I think the law is that one can be a pattern. So I think I'm constrained to make that finding.

"However, I'm also satisfied that the Commonwealth's reasons for challenge is [sic] not race based. That there are race neutral reasons which the Commonwealth has articulated which justify the challenge. Therefore, the objection is overruled, but the defendant's rights are saved. She may be excused."

b. Discussion. "The use of peremptory challenges to exclude prospective jurors solely because of bias presumed to derive from their membership in discrete community groups is prohibited both by art. 12 [of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights], see Commonwealth v. Soares, 377 Mass. 461, 486-488, 387 N.E.2d 499, cert. denied, 444 U.S. 881, 100 S.Ct. 170, 62 L.Ed.2d 110 (1979) [Soares], and the equal protection clause [of the United States Constitution], see ...