The Colorado Court of Appeals issued its opinion in People v. Chavez on July 21, 2011.
Voir Dire—Challenge for Cause—Bias.
Defendant appealed the judgment of conviction entered on jury verdicts finding him guilty of sexual assault (aided and abetted), sexual assault on a child (force), sexual assault on a child, enticement of a child, and enticement of a child (bodily injury). The judgment was reversed and the case was remanded for a new trial.
Defendant contended that the trial court erred in denying his challenges for cause to jurors P, M, and R. Defense counsel questioned jurors early in voir dire about the prosecution’s burden of proof. Near the close of voir dire, defense counsel informed the prospective jurors for the first time that evidence would be presented at trial showing that defendant had shot someone other than the alleged sexual assault victim. Jurors P and R clearly indicated that the shooting would cause them to question defendant’s character and ease the prosecution’s burden. The trial court declined to extend voir dire to conduct potentially rehabilitative questioning. Considering the voir dire in its entirety, the record was devoid of indications that these two jurors could set aside their biases and follow the court’s instructions to render a fair and impartial verdict based solely on the law and the evidence. Under the circumstances presented here, the trial court erred in not dismissing these jurors for cause based on actual bias. Further, because defendant exercised peremptory challenges to excuse those jurors and he exhausted all of his peremptory challenges, the trial court’s denial of the challenges for cause to jurors P and R was an abuse of discretion and required reversal of the conviction.
This summary is published here courtesy of The Colorado Lawyer. Other summaries for the Colorado Court of Appeals on July 21, 2011, can be found here.
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