State v. Claiborne, 80-KA-2084
| Citation | 397 So.2d 486 |
| Decision Date | 06 April 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 80-KA-2084,80-KA-2084 |
| Parties | STATE of Louisiana v. George CLAIBORNE. |
| Court | Supreme Court of Louisiana |
William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry F. Connick, Dist. Atty., Louise Korns, J. Kevin McNary, Asst. Dist. Attys., for plaintiff-appellee.
Dwight Doskey of Orleans Indigent Defender Program, William A. Roe, Student Practitioner and William J. O'Hara, III, Supervising Atty., Loyola Law Clinic, New Orleans, for defendant-appellant.
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The issue in this case is whether a defendant is denied his constitutional right to a full voir dire examination of a prospective juror when the trial court sustains a prosecution challenge for cause without affording defense counsel an opportunity to examine the venireman. We hold that, when a defense attorney is precluded from voir dire examination of a prospective juror which may have demonstrated the juror's ability to render an impartial verdict, the granting of a prosecution challenge for cause by the trial court deprives an accused of his right to full voir dire examination.
Defendant, George Claiborne, was convicted by jury of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, La.R.S. 14:95.1, and sentenced to three years' imprisonment at hard labor. On appeal he urges three assignments of error. His complaint that he was deprived of his constitutional right to a full voir dire examination of prospective jurors has merit and requires reversal of his conviction and sentence.
During the voir dire examination the trial court granted the prosecution's motion to excuse a prospective juror for cause and refused to allow the defense attorney to examine him. We excerpt that portion of the voir dire:
After a short period during which other prospective jurors were being polled on their beliefs, the state returned to questioning the juror:
The state used all of its peremptory challenges. Defendant contends that the erroneous refusal to allow examination of the juror by defense attorney to demonstrate the juror's impartiality resulted in the state being allowed more peremptory challenges than permitted by law.
Article 1, § 17 of the 1974 Louisiana Constitution provides that the accused shall have a right to "full voir dire examination" of prospective jurors. Even before the effective date of this innovative constitutional language see Hargrave, The Declaration of Rights of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, 35 La.L.Rev. 55 (1974), this court stated that the trial judge's exercise of sound discretion in ruling on a juror's qualifications will be sustained unless unwisely exercised, providing that he allows considerable latitude in the examination of jurors. See, e. g., State v. Rogers, 241 La. 841, 132 So.2d 819 (1961); State v. Brazile, 229 La. 600, 86 So.2d 208 (1956). After adoption of the 1974 Louisiana Constitution, this court has held that the accused's right to "full voir dire examination" includes the right to make such inquiries of prospective jurors as will enable him to secure his constitutional rights, not only by showing grounds for challenges for cause, but also by eliciting facts which will empower him intelligently to exercise his right of peremptory challenge, State v. Boen, 362 So.2d 519 (La.1978); State v. Jackson, 358 So.2d 1263 (La.1978); State v. Hills, 241 La. 345, 129 So.2d 12 (1961), the right to address, hear and observe the veniremen directly and as individuals, State v. Dixon, 365 So.2d 1310 (La.1979), and the right to examine a prospective juror challenged for cause by the prosecution in order to demonstrate his impartiality. State v. Shelton, 377 So.2d 96 (La.1979).
In the present case the accused's right to "full voir dire examination" included the right to examine juror number 160. It is clear from his answers in response to questions by the trial court and prosecuting attorney that the juror may have been able, after examination by defense counsel, to declare to the court's reasonable satisfaction that he could render an impartial verdict according to the law and evidence. If he had been able to so declare, it would have been the trial court's duty to deny the challenge for cause. Cf. La.C.Cr.P. art. 797(2). Accordingly, the deprivation of defendant's right to fully examine the prospective juror under these circumstances was prejudicial error. State v. Shelton, supra, 377 So.2d at 102.
Our conclusion that full voir dire examination includes the right to examine a prospective juror for purposes of demonstrating his impartiality is buttressed by the numerous cases in which this court has condoned a trial court practice of permitting prosecuting attorneys to employ voir dire examination to rehabilitate and establish the impartiality of prospective jurors who initially expressed an opinion or impression of the defendant's guilt or innocence. This court has repeatedly dismissed a defense argument that its challenge for...
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