United States v. Rice

489 F. Supp. 2d 1312, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40204, 2007 WL 1544318
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Alabama
DecidedMay 29, 2007
DocketCriminal 07-0011-WS
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 489 F. Supp. 2d 1312 (United States v. Rice) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Rice, 489 F. Supp. 2d 1312, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40204, 2007 WL 1544318 (S.D. Ala. 2007).

Opinion

ORDER

STEELE, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on defendant Quante Rice’s Motion to Inspect Jury Records for Both the Grand Jury and the Petit Jury (doc. 18). The Motion has been briefed and is ripe for disposition.

I. Background.

On January 24, 2007, a grand jury convened in the Southern District of Alabama handed down a two-count Indictment (doc. 1) charging defendant Quante Rice with taking a motor vehicle by force and violence and by intimidation, resulting in death, all in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2119; and with using, carrying and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a carjacking offense, in violation of 18 U.S.C. *1314 § 924(c). The Indictment includes certain special findings relating to defendant’s eligibility for a sentence of death, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §§ 3591 and 3592. The Order Concerning Initial Appearance (doc. 7) confirms the Government’s intention to seek the death penalty.

On March 26, 2007, defendant, by and through counsel, filed his Motion to Inspect Jury Records (doc. 18). The Motion enumerates 26 categories of records and information that defendant seeks. These categories include records relating to this District Court’s jury selection plan; records relating to this District Court’s master and qualified jury wheels for the last 10 years; records relating to persons who were deemed unqualified, excused, requested deferments, did not respond to the qualifying questionnaire, or were no-shows for jury duty for the last 10 years; records of all venires and jury panels called for jury duty in the last 10 years; and policies, manuals, audits, evaluations and other records pertaining to the jury selection process. 1

The Government has filed a Response (doc. 20), objecting only to the scope of the request rather than to request itself, and asking that the Court interpose some boundaries to prevent defendant’s endeav- or from amounting to “just a wide open *1315 fishing expedition” and to avoid the imposition of unnecessary burdens on the Clerk of Court in accommodating defendant’s request. (Response, at 2.)

II. Analysis.

A. The Jury Selection and Service Act.

Defendant’s request is made pursuant to the Jury Selection and Service Act of 1968, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1861 et seq. (the “Act”), which articulates a federal policy that “all litigants in Federal courts entitled to trial by jury shall have the right to grand and petit juries selected at random from a fair cross section of the community in the district or division wherein the court convenes.” 28 U.S.C. § 1861. The Act further recognizes a federal policy that all citizens shall have the opportunity to be considered for service on grand and petit juries in federal district courts, and the obligation to serve as jurors when summoned for that purpose. Id. To implement these policies, the Act sets forth certain rules and procedures governing the selection of grand and petit juries. The Act is not simply an idle theoretical exercise setting forth an aspirational ideal of fairness. To the contrary, serious repercussions may flow from noncompliance, as a criminal defendant “may move to dismiss the indictment or stay the proceedings against him on the ground of substantial failure to comply with the provisions of this title in selecting the grand or petit jury.” 28 U.S.C. § 1867(a). 2

An obvious practical hurdle to enforcement of the Act is that a litigant, and particularly a criminal defendant, will in most cases not possess at his fingertips information about the minutiae of a district court’s jury selection procedures. To remedy this informational shortfall and to ensure that defendants are armed with the necessary data to assess the viability of any contemplated challenge to jury selection processes, the Act provides that parties in a case “shall be allowed to inspect, reproduce, and copy such records or papers [used by the jury commission or clerk in connection with the jury selection process] at all reasonable times during the preparation and pendency of such a motion.” 28 U.S.C. § 1867(f); see also United States v. Diaz, 236 F.R.D. 470, 477 (N.D.Cal.2006) (defendant seeking to make fair cross-section claim under the Act may access jury selection records not otherwise available to the public). The Supreme Court has interpreted this section as granting litigants “essentially an unqualified right to inspect jury lists.... Indeed, without inspection, a party almost invariably would be unable to determine whether he has a potentially meritorious jury challenge.” Test v. United States, 420 U.S. 28, 30, 95 S.Ct. 749, 42 L.Ed.2d 786 (1975) (footnotes omitted) (granting permission for defendant to inspect and copy jury lists pertaining to the grand and petit juries in his indictment). Pursuant to Test, it is clear that a defendant need not prove that his contemplated challenges to the jury selection process have merit as a precondition to accessing jury records. See Government of Canal Zone v. Davis, 592 F.2d 887, 889 (5th Cir.1979) (“Since the appellants’ right to inspection was unqualified, whether or not the accompanying affidavit established a prima facie case of defective jury selection process is of no import.”). 3 Rather, “[t]o avail himself of *1316 the right of access to jury selection records, a litigant need only allege that he is preparing a motion to challenge the jury selection process.” United States v. Royal, 100 F.3d 1019, 1025 (1st Cir.1996) (finding that district court erred in requiring defendant to show probable success on the merits as a condition to accessing records); see also Diaz, 236 F.R.D. at 477 (allegation that defendants anticipate filing a motion challenging jury-selection procedures is sufficient to trigger right of access); United States v. Williams, 2007 WL 1223449, *5 (D.Haw. Apr.23, 2007) (similar).

In the wake of Test,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
489 F. Supp. 2d 1312, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40204, 2007 WL 1544318, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-rice-alsd-2007.