Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association - Voice For The ...

a very
spooky panel
This comment was prepared while I was involved in the trial of a capital case in southwest
Texas. As you can imagine there were substantial distractions from the attention to this
column which I otherwise would have been able to give it. However, during the six weeks
of jury selection several things occurred which I found disturbing.
First of all, a nearly endless trip through the minds and hearts of more than 130 citizens
of the county was required to find 12 jurors and two alternates who could withstand challenge.
Only one in ten could be considered to be capable, theoretically, of being fair where
the death penalty was a potential. There were recurring themes which were uncovered in
the interviews of these citizens.
Emmett Harris
EDITOR’s
COMMENT
1. After the initial assembly of the complete group of venirepersons at which they
completed lengthy questionnaires, the Judge instructed the group to go home and
await individual interviews. He instructed them to avoid all media of any kind or
any other form of communication about the case. His instructions were clear. He
delivered them in English. The jurors all spoke English. They were not illiterate.
They were not retarded, at least in the usual sense of that word. Nevertheless, at least
two jurors went home and immediately googled up data about the case. One juror
told another about her findings. A large number of the jurors watched a television
report on the same evening after their assembly and instructions. A large number
also read a print media report on that same or the next day. One of these readers
actually cut the story out of the paper and saved it. As these facts came out during
individual voir dire, the disobedient jurors said variously: a) they offered no excuse
or apology at all; b) they said that they didn’t understand the court’s instruction;
c) one said that he didn’t think the instruction applied unless he was seated on the
jury; and d) none blushed as they made their admissions. One actually looked at
the judge and said: “Why don’t you do something about the media?”
2. Another recurring theme was that the death penalty is a definite deterrent to
murder. This assumption was tightly grasped by people whose major newspaper
was reporting that the murder rate in San Antonio was nearly double the previous
year’s.
10 VOICE FOR THE DEFENSE October 2006