State v. Holland
| Decision Date | 18 November 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 68314,68314 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Gary HOLLAND, Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Holly Simons, Catherine Schroeder, St. Louis, for appellant.
William L. Webster, Atty. Gen., Lee A. Bonine, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for respondent.
Convicted by a jury of burglary in the second degree, § 569.170, RSMo 1978, defendant was sentenced as a persistent offender to ten years imprisonment and following affirmance by the Court of Appeals, Eastern District, we granted transfer and determine the cause as though on original appeal. Mo. Const. art. V, § 10. Defendant's sole claim of error is the trial court's alleged abuse of discretion in overruling challenges for cause directed toward two veniremen. The sufficiency of the evidence is not challenged, accordingly a brief recital of facts supportive of the verdict will suffice.
The burglar alarm at the American Academy of Dance studio located at 306 North Grand in the City of St. Louis, Missouri, sounded during the early morning hours of October 19, 1984. Local police were dispatched to the studio at about 12:43 a.m. One of the officers at the scene was standing at the corner of North Grand and Lindell streets watching the outside of the premises. A passing motorist yelled at the officer and, at this point, the officer saw defendant in midair as he had jumped from a second-story window of the studio. As defendant walked east on Lindell he was arrested by a second officer stationed on the north side of the studio building. There was evidence of forced entry and property inside the studio had been disturbed.
Turning to defendant's claim of trial court error in failing to strike two jurors for cause, we are mindful that the court has wide discretion in determining the qualifications of a prospective juror and its ruling will be disturbed on appeal only when it is clearly against the evidence and constitutes an abuse of discretion. State v. Hopkins, 687 S.W.2d 188, 189 (Mo. banc 1985). "In determining when a challenge for cause should be sustained, each case must be judged on its facts," id. at 190, and the relevant voir dire must of course be considered in its entirety. State v. Garrett, 627 S.W.2d 635, 642 (Mo. banc), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 906, 103 S.Ct. 208, 74 L.Ed.2d 166 (1982); see also, e.g., State v. Carter, 544 S.W.2d 334, 337 (Mo.App.1976); State v. Gordon, 543 S.W.2d 553, 555 (Mo.App.1976).
In the case at bar the following occurred during questioning of venireman Stein by defense counsel Schroeder:
You presume him as being innocent right now as he sits there?
There was no further inquiry of venireman Stein on this subject. Neither the court nor prosecutor posed any questions to Stein whether he would or would not infer from defendant's failure to testify that he might be guilty, nor whether he could follow the law and instruction of the court, if given, as to such matters.
"An accused must be afforded a full panel of qualified jurors before he is required to expend his peremptory challenges; denial by a trial court of a legitimate request by an accused to excuse for cause a partial or prejudiced venireperson constitutes reversible error." Hopkins, 687 S.W.2d at 190; see also State v. Thompson, 541 S.W.2d 16, 17 (Mo.App.1976). In State v. Stewart, 692 S.W.2d 295 (Mo. banc 1985), we reversed and remanded where the trial court overruled defendant's challenge for cause of venireman Thompson who stated on voir dire that she would like to hear defendant's side of the story and that she would be more apt to think defendant guilty if he did not testify. We stated:
Mrs. Thompson never unequivocally stated that she would not draw any inference of guilt from defendant's...
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State v. Griffin
...must be stricken for cause if he indicates that he might draw adverse inferences from a defendant's decision not to testify. State v. Holland, 719 S.W.2d 453, 454-55 (Mo. banc 1986). However, a juror who expresses a personal opinion that a defendant should testify or present some evidence i......
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State v. Edmonson, 17685
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