State v. Johnson

22 S.W.3d 183, 2000 Mo. LEXIS 51
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJune 13, 2000
DocketNo. SC 81596
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 22 S.W.3d 183 (State v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Johnson, 22 S.W.3d 183, 2000 Mo. LEXIS 51 (Mo. 2000).

Opinion

DUANE BENTON, Judge.

Defendant Ernest Lee Johnson killed three employees of a convenience store by beating them to death with a hammer. A search of his home led to the discovery of bloody clothes, money and receipts from the convenience store. See State v. Johnson, 968 S.W.2d 686, 689-90 (Mo. banc).

Defendant was convicted of the murders and sentenced to death. This Court affirmed the convictions, but vacated the death sentences, remanding for a new penalty phase. Id. at 702. The new jury also returned three death sentences. Defendant appeals. Mo. Const., art. V, sec. 3. Affirmed.

I.

Defendant claims the circuit court erred in striking for cause F.R., a venire-person who stated he could vote to impose the death penalty, but could not sign his name on the verdict form as foreperson.

The following colloquy occurred:

PROSECUTOR: What about you? Can you consider both punishment options?
VENIREPERSON F.R.: I could decide both.
Q: Life without parole?
A: Yes.
Q: And can you consider the death penalty?
A: Yes.
Q: You kind of, on that one, now, you kind of hitched up on me a little bit. That’s the — See, only you know what’s going on with this.
[186]*186A: That would have to be a real tough decision, in any mind.
Q: Nobody says this is going to be easy.
A: Right.
Q: Nobody says this is going to be easy. But not knowing any more than what you’ve been told as you sit there today, do you think that you could consider that punishment, the death penalty, in this particular case? Because this is a real person sitting here. It’s not on T.V.
A: I could consider it, but it would have to be well — How do we say?— presented before I could decide.
Q: Well, yeah. I guess — I can’t go any further into the facts.
A: Right.
Q: You’ve obviously done some thinking about the death penalty?
A: A little.
Q: Could you ever really envision yourself as an individual going, yes, death?
A: Yes, I could.
Q: Okay.
A: I’ve done that before.
Q: Okay. You’ve done what?
A: I mean, I’ve envisioned myself.
Q: Okay. I was going to say, if you’ve been through this before, brother. (Laughter.)
Q: Okay. But, I mean, you’ve done some thinking about this, then?
A: Uh-huh.
Q: Okay. If you were selected as a juror in this case and then your fellow jurors decided that you' would be their foreman, under the law, the foreman, if the final decision is death, signs that verdict. That would be you. Could you do that, knowing that there’s a certain—
DEFENSE COUNSEL: I’m going to object. Asking for a commitment.
COURT: Objection will be overruled.
PROSECUTOR: — knowing that there’s a certain finality to your decision?
VENIREMAN F.R.: I can’t say right now. I have no idea. I don’t think — I don’t know.
Q: You don’t think you could do that, do you?
A: I don’t think I could put my name behind, my single name behind one person’s death.
Q: That’s what it is. It’s your name, as foreperson, oh that verdict form. And it’s okay—
A: I don’t think I could do that. I don’t think I could put my name there.
Q: That’s fine. It’s tough, isn’t it?
A: Yeah.
Q: Tough talking about this?
A: Yeah.

During later questioning by defense counsel, F.R. responded that he could basically go through the process (including following the instructions and considering the aggravating circumstances), but reiterated, “I don’t think I could put my single name to one person’s death.”

The State challenged F.R. for cause. Defendant countered that F.R. could “envision himself giving the death penalty, he just will have difficulty signing the form.” The trial judge removed F.R. for cause.

A trial court’s ruling on a challenge for cause will not be reversed unless clearly against the evidence and a clear abuse of discretion. State v. Middleton, 995 S.W.2d 443, 460 (Mo. banc), cert. denied, — U.S. —, 120 S.Ct. 598, 145 L.Ed.2d 497 (1999).

A juror’s equivocation about his ability to follow the law in a capital case together with an unequivocal statement that he could not sign a verdict of death can provide a basis for the trial court to exclude the venireperson from the jury. State v. Clayton, 995 S.W.2d 468, 476 (Mo. banc), cert. denied, — U.S. —, 120 S.Ct. 543, 145 L.Ed.2d 421 (1999); State v. Rousan, 961 S.W.2d 831, 840 (Mo. banc), cert. denied, 524 U.S. 961, 118 S.Ct. 2387, [187]*187141 L.Ed.2d 753 (1998); see also Johnson, at 694.

Defendant relies on two federal appellate cases for the proposition that jurors should not be excluded for stating that they could not serve as a foreperson: Alderman v. Austin, 663 F.2d 558, 562-64 (5th Cir.1981), aff'd on this point, 695 F.2d 124, 126 (5th Cir. en banc 1983); and O’Bryan v. Estelle, 714 F.2d 365 (5th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1013,104 S.Ct. 1015, 79 L.Ed.2d 245 (1984). Both cases base their decisions on the then-controlling Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 20 L.Ed.2d 776 (1968). However, in Wainwright v. Witt, 469 U.S. 412, 424, 105 S.Ct. 844, 83 L.Ed.2d 841 (1985), the United States Supreme Court clarified Witherspoon, creating a new standard for evaluating venire strikes. State v. Debler, 856 S.W.2d 641, 645-46 (Mo. banc 1993). The relevant question is whether a venire-person’s beliefs preclude following the court’s instructions so as to “prevent or substantially impair the performance of his duties as a juror in accordance with his instructions and his oath.” Wainwright, at 424,105 S.Ct. 844.

In this case, F.R.

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State v. Johnson
22 S.W.3d 183 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 2000)

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Bluebook (online)
22 S.W.3d 183, 2000 Mo. LEXIS 51, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-johnson-mo-2000.