State v. Bryant

48 Fla. Supp. 70
CourtCircuit Court of the 15th Judicial Circuit of Florida, Palm Beach County
DecidedSeptember 18, 1978
DocketNo. 78-1240 CF
StatusPublished

This text of 48 Fla. Supp. 70 (State v. Bryant) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Circuit Court of the 15th Judicial Circuit of Florida, Palm Beach County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Bryant, 48 Fla. Supp. 70 (Fla. Super. Ct. 1978).

Opinion

CARL H. HARPER, Circuit Judge.

Order September 14, 1978: Defendant, a black female, is, charged by indictment filed June 6, 1978 with first degree murder of a black male on May 27, 1978. She is represented by Assistant Public Defender James K. Green, and is free on bond with jury trial set for next Monday, September 18,1978 in West Palm Beach. She did not request a jury trial in the Glades Jury District where she resides and where the homicide was committed. Defense counsel filed a motion to dismiss indictment and quash petit jury panel on July 21, 1978 and a motion for continuance on September 5, 1978. Both motions came on for hearing on September 12 and 13, 1978 at which evidence was received in support of and in opposition to the motion to dismiss indictment and quash jury panel. Respective counsel filed memoranda for the court’s assistance.

Due to the complexities of the evidence and time limitations upon the undersigned, the evidence heard will not be summarized herein. The evidence was duly reported and recorded to perfect the record for appeal purposes. Likewise, defendant’s motion to dismiss indictment and quash petit jury panel speaks for itself as to the contentions and no useful purpose would be served to summarize it. Basically, the motion contends that Section 40.01(1), Florida Statutes, is unconstitutional on its face and as applied herein in that it systematically excludes from grand and petit juries certain cognizable classes namely young adults (ages 18 to 30’ years), blacks and migrant workers, thereby resulting in significant under-representations of the classes in the jury selection process, denying defendant a fair and impartial trial before a true representative cross-section of her community, contrary to federal and state constitutional provisions.

It is fundamental that a statute under attack is presumed to be constitutional on its face, and the defendant has the burden to prove otherwise. The statute now under attack has never been held to be facially unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Florida or any federal court (including the U. S. Supreme Court) which would be binding on this court. The contrary is true as evidenced by State v. Silva, 259 So.2d 153 (Fla. 1972); Reed v. State, 292 So.2d 7 (Fla. 1974); Wilson v. State, 306 So.2d 513 (Fla. 1975); [72]*72Wilson v. State, 330 So.2d 457 (Fla. 1976); Jones v. State, 289 So.2d 385 (Fla. 1974); Mask v. State, 289 So.2d 385 (Fla. 1974); and Johnson v. State, 293 So.2d 71, each of which has held the statute to be constitutional. The quantum of proof required under a defendant’s burden is in conflict under various authorities. Defendant contends that once she proves a significant comparative under-representation of a cognizable class, a prima facie case has been made out shifting the burden to the state to prove lack of systematic exclusions of constitutional proportions.

In meeting that burden, defendant called Abbott Farris, Ph.D., professor of sociology at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, as an expert witness. Dr. Farris testified that based on a 1970 U. S. Census report for Palm Beach County and a Gallup poll it was his expert opinion that young adults (ages 18-30 years) have attitudinal behavior different from older adults. For example, more young adults favor —

1. amnesty for draft dodgers and evaders,
2. pre-marital sex,
3. abortion,
4. right-to-die laws,
5. busing for racial balance,

and have distinct differences on basic values dealing with life, death and sex, but only moderate differences on administration of justice, but oppose the death penalty by 19% more than older adults. As a matter of hindsight, the undersigned feels relieved that some time ago he refused to authorize an expert witness fee plus travel expenses for the above “expert” testimony, and firmly believes the average person could make the same conclusions as the expert without any scientific study, avoiding unnecessary expenditure of public funds.

Additionally, defendant introduced several exhibits and called Perry Holland, Ph.D., assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Miami, as an expert witness in statistical analyses in the jury selection process, and discrimination problems in the field of statistics and probabilities. Numerous exhibits and charts were introduced into evidence to assist Dr. Holland in stating his expert opinions and reasons supporting them. In short, he testified that in 1978 —

1. there is comparative under-representation of blacks on Palm Beach County voter registration rolls of 40.3%,
[73]*732. there is comparative under-representation of blacks on Palm Beach County grand juries of 77.6%,
3. there is comparative under-representation of young adults on voter registration rolls of 34.8%
4. there is only a .000061 probability of a female being selected as grand jury foreman in fourteen successive grand juries, and
5. that it is 2.63 times more likely that a white person would serve on the grand jury that indicted defendant than would a black person.

Also, defendant called an assistant state attorney and the deputy clerk in charge of the local jury pool who also serves as secretary to the jury commission. They testified as to the grand and petit jury selection process practiced locally, after which an investigator of the public defender’s office testified as to the racial makeup of grand jurors for the last five years. The investigator did not investigate the racial makeup of the pool from which the grand jurors were selected at random.

The court reserved ruling on the defendant’s motion to have the court find a prima facie case. Thereafter, the assistant state attorney presented his case and called his only witness, Mr. Preston Tillman, a black man, chairman of the Palm Beach County Jury Commission. In essence, he corroborated the testimony of the deputy clerk as to the jury selection process and that cards from which the jurors are selected do not identify the race of the juror and that the selection is done purely at random without any perusal of the cards with the presence either of a county judge or circuit judge. Thereupon, the court re-called as a court witness the deputy clerk who testified as to the jury selection process of the Glades Jury District and the racial composition of the registered voters in that district.

The court has read and considered defendant’s motion and the memoranda in support and in opposition thereto, the evidence, argument and authorities relied on by the parties. Unfortunately, due to the heavy case load of this court and time limitations incidental thereto, the undersigned simply does not have the luxury of the assistant public defender in spending more than two hundred hours preparing and researching the issues raised in this pre-trial motion. This court has an obligation to the many defendants who are in jail unable to make bail and who have arguable issues pending before him to divide his time among them without undue preference and discrimination. Mr. Green is to be complimented for his dedication to this defendant’s case. Nevertheless, it is unfor[74]

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Related

Hoyt v. Florida
368 U.S. 57 (Supreme Court, 1961)
Swain v. Alabama
380 U.S. 202 (Supreme Court, 1965)
Turner v. Fouche
396 U.S. 346 (Supreme Court, 1970)
Alexander v. Louisiana
405 U.S. 625 (Supreme Court, 1972)
Castaneda v. Partida
430 U.S. 482 (Supreme Court, 1977)
Hoyt v. State
119 So. 2d 691 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1959)
Reed v. State
292 So. 2d 7 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1974)
Crosby v. State
97 So. 2d 181 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1957)
State v. Silva
259 So. 2d 153 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1972)
McArthur v. State
351 So. 2d 972 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1977)
Jones v. State
289 So. 2d 385 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1974)
Wilson v. Renfroe
91 So. 2d 857 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1956)
Seay v. State
286 So. 2d 532 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1973)
Wilson v. State
306 So. 2d 513 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1975)
Foxworth v. State
267 So. 2d 647 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1972)
Johnson v. State
293 So. 2d 71 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1974)
Wilson v. State
330 So. 2d 457 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1976)
State Ex Rel. Murray v. Caro
17 So. 2d 79 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1944)
Wilder v. State
160 So. 2d 104 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1964)
State v. Demetree
213 So. 2d 709 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1968)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
48 Fla. Supp. 70, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bryant-flacirct15pal-1978.