Jefferson v. State, 78507
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Florida |
| Citation | 595 So.2d 38 |
| Docket Number | No. 78507,78507 |
| Parties | , 17 Fla. L. Weekly S139 Tony JEFFERSON, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent. |
| Decision Date | 27 February 1992 |
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v.
STATE of Florida, Respondent.
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Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender and Anthony Calvello, Asst. Public Defender, Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, West Palm Beach, for petitioner.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen. and Joan Fowler, Bureau Chief, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen. and Carol Cobourn Asbury, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for respondent.
Barbara Green of Freidin, Hirsh, Green & Gerrard, P.A. and Roy D. Wasson, Miami, amicus curiae for The Academy Of Florida Trial Lawyers.
McDONALD, Justice.
We review Jefferson v. State, 584 So.2d 123, 125 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991), in which the district court certified the following question as being of great public importance: 1
WHERE THE TRIAL COURT FINDS THAT A PEREMPTORY CHALLENGE IS BASED UPON RACIAL BIAS, IS THE SOLE REMEDY TO DISMISS THE JURY POOL AND TO START VOIR DIRE OVER WITH A NEW JURY POOL, OR MAY THE TRIAL COURT EXERCISE ITS DISCRETION TO DENY THE PEREMPTORY CHALLENGE IF IT CURES THE DISCRIMINATORY TAINT?
We hold that, absent injury to a party's constitutional right to an impartial jury, it is within the trial court's discretion to seat the improperly challenged juror in order to remedy a discriminatory peremptory challenge.
The State charged Jefferson, a black man, with armed robbery. During the voir dire portion of Jefferson's trial, the State exercised one of its peremptory challenges against a black venireperson. Jefferson objected and the trial court proceeded to evaluate the appropriateness of the peremptory challenge. The inquiry was conducted outside the presence of the potential jurors and without their knowledge as to the nature of the proceedings. The trial court concluded that the challenge was racially motivated and denied the peremptory challenge.
The trial court also denied Jefferson's request to discharge the venire and repeat voir dire with a new jury pool. Jefferson
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was convicted of armed robbery and subsequently appealed to the district court asserting that the trial court's use of an alternative remedy to the one put forth by this Court in State v. Neil, 457 So.2d 481 (Fla.1984), was reversible error. The district court affirmed Jefferson's conviction holding that the trial court's use of a different remedy in the instant case was harmless error because it did not cause prejudice to Jefferson.In Neil, we held that peremptory challenges could not be used to excuse potential jurors on the basis of race and "if the party has actually been challenging prospective jurors solely on the basis of race, then the court should dismiss that jury pool and start voir dire over with a new pool." 457 So.2d at 487. However, this Court tailored the remedy in Neil to the particular facts of that case. Because the trial court had already dismissed the improperly excluded jurors, the alternative remedy of denying the peremptory challenges was not available. We did not intend for Neil to set forth the exclusive remedy for discriminatory peremptory challenges. 2
The rationale behind striking the entire jury pool is to provide the complaining party with a proper venire and not one that has been partially or totally stripped of potential jurors through the use of discriminatory peremptory challenges. If, as occurred in the instant case, the trial court denies the improper peremptory and the improper challenge has no effect upon the composition of the jury pool, the complaining party is not deprived of a proper venire. Thus, the defendant's rights to an impartial jury and to equal protection under the law are not violated. Further, the trial court in the instant case conducted the Neil inquiry outside the presence of the jury, and, thus, there was no danger that the improperly...
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State v. Franklin, 24190
...Page 360 be subordinated to a venire person's constitutional right not to be improperly removed from jury service." Jefferson v. State, 595 So.2d 38, 41 (Fla.1992). "While striking the venire and beginning selection over with a new jury pool may protect the constitutional rights of the defe......
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Alen v. State, 90-1
...state's use of the ethnically motivated strike against the second juror, however, was constitutionally forbidden, see Jefferson v. State, 595 So.2d 38 (Fla.1992); Smith v. State, 574 So.2d 1195 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991), aff'd on other grounds, State v. Washington, 594 So.2d 291 (Fla.1992), and co......
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State v. Jones, 9378
...has been partially or totally stripped of potential jurors through the use of discriminatory peremptory challenges." Jefferson v. State, 595 So.2d 38, 40 (Fla.1992). "[A]nything less than an impartial jury is the functional equivalent of no jury at all." Miami v. Cornett, 463 So.2d 399, 402......
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Busby v. State, SC02-1364.
...and contradicts our previous case law to the contrary. As this Court stated in the post-Trotter case of Jefferson v. State, 894 So.2d 112 595 So.2d 38, 41 (Fla.1992), "It is the right to an impartial jury, not the right to peremptory challenges, that is constitutionally protected. Peremptor......
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Batson Remedies
...trial judge’s discretion to fashion the appropriate remedy under the particular facts of each case . . . .’” (quoting Jefferson v. State, 595 So. 2d 38, 41 (Fla. 1992))). 30. Practical circumstances may also dictate the choice of remedy for a Batson violation. In particular, if a trial judg......