Blackwell v. State

132 So. 468, 101 Fla. 997
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedFebruary 26, 1931
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 132 So. 468 (Blackwell v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blackwell v. State, 132 So. 468, 101 Fla. 997 (Fla. 1931).

Opinion

Strum, C.J.

-Plaintiff in error, hereinafter called the defendant, was adjudged guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to death, to which judgment he takes writ of error.

In this court, it is first contended by the defense that the trial court erred in overruling defendant’s challenge for cause of the veniremen H. R. Pitts and D. M. Newman, both of whom apparently were thereafter peremptorily challenged, as neither appears to have served on *999 the trial jury. Later on, and before the jury was sworn, the defendant attempted to peremptorily challenge the veniremen Bailey and Bowen. An objection by the State on the ground that the defendant had exhausted his /peremptory challenge was sustained, and the two veniremen last named served on the trial jury.

The defendant contends that the court’s asserted error in overruling his challenge for cause to veniremen H. R. Pitts and D. M. Newman, thereby holding these veniremen competent to serve as jurors, erroneously required defendant to use two peremptory challenges to remove those veniremen, which resulted in forcing, on the defendant the jurors Bailey and Bowen, whom the defendant desired and attempted to challenge peremptorily.

First to be determined is whether or not the veniremen H. R. Pitts and D. M. Newman were competent.

In criminal cases, whenever after a full examination the evidence given upon a challenge leaves a reasonable doubt in the mind of the trial judge of the impartiality of a juror, the defendant should be given the benefit of the doubt and his challenge of such juror for cause should be sustained. Crosby v. State, 90 Fla. 381, 106 So. 741; Walsingham v. State, 61 Fla. 67, 56 So. 195.

In Reynolds v. U. S., 98 U. S. 145, 156; 25 L. Ed. 244, 247, and again in Ex parte Spies, 123 U. S. 131, 31 L. Ed. 80, 90, it was said: “Upon the trial of the issue of fact raised by a challenge to a juror, in a criminal case, on the ground that he had formed and expressed an opinion as to the issues' to be tried, the court will practically be called upon to determine whether the nature and strength of the opinion formed are such as in law are necessary to raise the presumption of partiality. The question thus presented is one of mixed law and fact, *1000 and to be tried, as far as the facts are concerned, like any other issue of that character, upon the evidence. The finding of the trial court upon that issue ought not to be set aside by a reviewing court; unless the error is manifest. * * * It must be made clearly to .appear that upon the evidence the court ought to have found that the juror had formed such an opinion that he could not in law be deemed impartial. The case must be one in which it is manifest the law left nothing to the conscience or discretion of the court.” See also Hopt v. People of Utah, 120 U. S. 430, 30 L. Ed. 708.

In Olive v. State, 34 Fla. 203, 15 So. 925, it was said: “The fixedness or strength of the existing opinion is the essential test of a juror’s competency, and the court should look specially to such state of mind in passing upon the question of qualification.” Then, quoting from O’Conner v. State, 9 Fla. 215, it'is further said: “If such impressions become fixed and ripen into decided opinions, they will influence a man’s conduct, and will create, necessarily, a prejudice for or against the party to whom- they are directed, and should disqualify him as a juror, but if, in obedience to the laws of his organization, his mind receives impressions from the reports he hears, which have not become opinions fixed and decided, he would not be disqualified.” Olive v. State, supra.

In O’Connor v. State, 9 Fla. 215, the following language was further quoted with approval: “The true doctrine is, that if the juror’s conceptions are not fixed and settled,, not warped by prejudice, but are only such as would naturally spring from public rumor or newspaper reports, and his mind is open to the impressions it may receive on the trial, so as to be convinced accord *1001 ing to the law and the testimony, he is not incompetent.” The language just quoted is preceded in O’Connor v. State with the further statement that “the human mind is so constituted that it is almost impossible, on hearing a report freely circulated in a county or neighborhood, to prevent it from coming to some conclusion on the subject; and this will always be the case while the mind continues susceptible to impressions.” If a conclusion or impression of the character last mentioned, — one which would readily yield to the evidence, — render a juror incompetent, in this day of rapid and efficient transportation and communication, it would be highly difficult, if not almost impossible, to procure a trial jury in the county where a crime of any moment was committed.

In Lamb v. State, on petition for re-hearing, 90 Pla. 856, 107 So. 535, the existing rule was further stated in the following language: “A person called as a juryman may have formed an opinion based upon rumor or upon newspaper statements, but if he has expressed no opinion as to the truth of the newspaper statements he is still qualified as a juror if he states that he can fairly and impartially render a verdict thereon, in accordance with the law and the evidence, and the court shall be satisfied of the truth of such statements.” See also McGowan v. State, 89 Pla. 5, 102 So. 890.

The rule has also been considered with specific reference to the competency of prospective jurors in the following cases, in which the examination of the veniremen is set forth at length, and in all of which as strong, if not a stronger showing, was made against the competency of the juror than in the ease now at bar: Marlow v. State, 49 Fla. 7, 38 So. 653; English v. State, 31 Fla. 340, 356, 12 So. 689; Denham v. State, 22 Fla. 664; *1002 Montague v. State, 17 Fla. 662; Brown v. State, 40 Fla. 459, 25 So. 63; Melbourne v. State, 51 Fla. 69, 40 So. 189; Andrews v. State, 21 Fla. 598. See also O’Connor v. State and Olive v. State, supra.

For precision in consideration, the voir dire examination of the veniremen as to whom a challenge for cause-was overruled, is reproduced in full:

H. R. PITTS:

BY MR. McRAE: (for the State) “Q. Where do you live, Mr. Pitts? A. On the west side of the river below Clarksville. Q. This is the case of State of Florida vs'. J. T. Blackwell, charged with the crime of murder, to-wit: the killing of one C. D. Clark in this' County, on or about the 21st day of April; do you know anything of the facts and circumstances of the case? A- Well, I just heard it remarked that he was killed. Q. Did what you have heard purport to be the evidence or facts in the case? A. Yes, sir, I heard it. Q. From what you heard have you formed or expressed any opinion in the case as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant? A. Yes, sir, I expect I have. Q. Is that a fixed opinion? A. No, sir. Q.

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Bluebook (online)
132 So. 468, 101 Fla. 997, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blackwell-v-state-fla-1931.