State v. Blunt

• Decision Date: 12 November 1985
• Docket Number: No. C,C
• Citation: 708 S.W.2d 415
• Parties: STATE of Tennessee, Appellee, v. Ralph William BLUNT, Appellant. C.A. 85-116-III
• Court: Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 415

708 S.W.2d 415

STATE of Tennessee, Appellee, v. Ralph William BLUNT, Appellant.

No. C.C.A. 85-116-III

Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee at Nashville.

Nov. 12, 1985 Permission to Appeal Denied by Supreme Court March 3, 1986.

Kennetha Sayers, Asst. Public Defender, William L. Shulman, Senior Asst. Public Defender, Nashville, for appellant.

W.J. Michael Cody, Atty. Gen., Kevin Steiling, Asst. Atty. Gen., Thomas H. Shriver, Dist. Atty. Gen., John C. Zimmermann, Asst. Dist. Atty. Gen., Nashville, for appellee.

OPINION

JOE D. DUNCAN, Judge.

The defendant, Ralph William Blunt, was convicted of felony-murder and received a sentence of imprisonment for life. He was also convicted of grand larceny and received a Range II sentence of ten (10) years as an especially aggravated offender.

In this appeal, the defendant says the trial court erred in denying his motion to quash the petit jury venire, raises an issue concerning the method used to impanel the jury that tried his case, and complains that evidence was improperly allowed regarding his probationary status. We find no reversible error.

We note that the defendant does not question the sufficiency of the evidence, and thus it is not necessary for us to summarize the evidence. Suffice it to say, the evidence fully authorized the jury to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of both felony-murder and grand larceny.

First, the defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to quash the petit jury venire based upon the claim of deprivation of a representative cross-section of the community as guaranteed by the Federal and State Constitutions. Specifically, as claimed in his motion for a new trial and as argued in his brief, he says that the exemptions which are granted to citizens who are over 65 years of age result in a significant underrepresentation of an identifiable segment of society. See T.C.A. § 22-1-103(a)(5).

At various pretrial hearings, as well as at the motion for new trial hearing, considerable testimony was adduced regarding the process and procedures used in selecting Davidson County jury venires.

Several witnesses explained that the names of potential jurors were selected from voter registration lists, and they described the methods used in placing those names in the jury box, the procedures used in drawing the cards containing those names from the box, and the practices followed in excusing jurors. After reviewing all of the testimony, we conclude that the procedures used in selecting jurors for the jury pools in Davidson County are proper.

We conclude from the evidence that the procedures followed do not systematically exclude from jury service any identifiable segment of society; rather, the procedures used serve to insure that a representative cross-section of the community is summoned and available for jury service.

Neither the jury roll nor the venire panel need be a perfect mirror of the community or accurately reflect the proportionate strength of every identifiable group in the community. Swain v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 202, 85 S.Ct. 824, 13 L.Ed.2d 759 (1965); State v. Jefferson, 529 S.W.2d 674 (Tenn.1975).

Regarding the defendant's specific complaint that the exemption of jurors over 65 years of age results in a significant underrepresentation of an identifiable segment of society, we find that the evidence does not show that to be the case.

While T.C.A. § 22-1-103 allows an exemption for persons "over sixty-five (65) years of age, disabled by bodily infirmity, or specially exempted by any other positive law," such exemption is personal to the individual, to be claimed or waived by such person alone. The evidence showed that citizens in this age group were regularly summoned for jury duty by the jury commissioners. While in a few instances, some citizens in this age group were excused permanently when they exercised their exemption, this fact cannot rise to the level of documenting a claim of systematic exclusion of the group that makes up this segment of the community.

A showing of systematic exclusion of a group is necessary to demonstrate a constitutional infirmity in a jury. Taylor v. Louisiana, 419 U.S. 522, 95 S.Ct. 692, 42 L.Ed.2d 690 (1975); Lillard v. State, 528 S.W.2d 207 (Tenn.Cr.App.1975). The burden is on the defendant to prove purposeful discrimination. It will not be presumed. Swain v. Alabama, supra.

In the trial court's ruling on the defendant's motion, the court correctly found that the defendant had not made out a prima facie case showing a systematic exclusion of persons over 65 years of age from the jury venires.

In order to establish a prima facie violation of the fair cross-section requirement, the defendant must show (1) the group alleged to be excluded is a distinctive group in the community; (2) that the representation of this group in venires from which juries are selected is not fair and reasonable in relation to the number of such persons in the community; and (3) that this underrepresentation is due to the systematic exclusion of the group in the jury selection process. Duren v. Missouri, 439 U.S. 357, 364, 99 S.Ct. 664, 668, 58 L.Ed.2d 579 (1979); State v. Nelson, 603 S.W.2d 158, 161 (Tenn.Cr.App.1980).

In denying the defendant's motion to dismiss, the trial court noted that, of the forty-seven (47) people who were members of the jury panel from which the jury in the instant case was selected, the defendant was only able to identify thirty-five (35) of the prospective jurors. Of these thirty-five (35), two (2) were 65 years or over and fifteen (15) were between the ages of 55 and 65. Of the latter fifteen (15) members, seven (7) were between the ages of 60 and 65. Consequently, the trial court concluded:

Given the large number of persons in the prospective jury panel over the age of 55, and the failure of the defendant to identify over a quarter of the jury panel, this Court can find no violation of the cross-sectional requirement of the Sixth Amendment or of the Tennessee Constitution. Having previously found the statistical evidence presented prior to trial to be less than reliable, the Court cannot and will not grant a new trial on the statistical information available to it. The defendant has not raised a prima facie case.

We agree with the trial court's ruling. Initially, the failure of the defendant to identify, as to age classification, over one-fourth of the jury panel, documents the finding...