§ 16-10-103 — Challenge of jurors for cause

Colorado § 16-10-103

• Jurisdiction: Colorado
• Title 16: Criminal
• Art.: Jury Trials

Text

(1) The court shall sustain a
challenge for cause on one or more of the following grounds:

(a) Absence of any qualification prescribed by statute to render a person
competent as a juror;

(b) Relationship within the third degree, by blood, adoption, or marriage, to a
defendant or to any attorney of record or attorney engaged in the trial of the case;

(c) Standing in the relation of guardian and ward, employer and employee,
landlord and tenant, debtor and creditor, or principal and agent to, or being a
member of the household of, or a partner in business with, or surety on any bond or
obligation for any defendant;

(d) The juror is or has been a party adverse to the defendant in a civil action
or has complained against or been accused by him in a criminal prosecution;

(e) The juror has served on the grand jury which returned the indictment, or
on a coroner's jury which inquired into the death of a person whose death is the
subject of the indictment or information, or on any other investigatory body which
inquired into the facts of the crime charged;

(f) The juror was a juror at a former trial arising out of the same factual
situation or involving the same defendant;

(g) The juror was a juror in a civil action against the defendant arising out of
the act charged as a crime;

(h) The juror was a witness to any matter related to the crime or its
prosecution;

(i) The juror occupies a fiduciary relationship to the defendant or a person
alleged to have been injured by the crime or the person on whose complaint the
prosecution was instituted;

(j) The existence of a state of mind in the juror evincing enmity or bias toward
the defendant or the state; however, no person summoned as a juror shall be
disqualified by reason of a previously formed or expressed opinion with reference
to the guilt or innocence of the accused, if the court is satisfied, from the
examination of the juror or from other evidence, that he will render an impartial
verdict according to the law and the evidence submitted to the jury at the trial;

(k) The juror is a compensated employee of a public law enforcement agency
or a public defender's office.

(2) If any juror knows of anything which would disqualify him as a juror or be
a ground for challenge to him for cause, it is his duty to inform the court concerning
it whether or not he is specifically asked about it. The jury panel shall be advised of
this duty and of the grounds for challenge for cause before any prospective jurors
are called to the jury box.

(3) If either party desires to introduce evidence of the incompetency,
disqualification, or prejudice of any prospective juror who upon the voir dire
examination appears to be qualified, competent, and unprejudiced, such evidence
shall be heard, and the competency of the juror shall be determined, by the court,
out of the presence of the other jurors, but this action cannot be taken after the jury
has been sworn to try the case except upon a motion for mistrial.

Legislative History

Source: L. 72: R&RE, p. 236, � 1. C.R.S. 1963: � 39-10-103. L. 98: (1)(k) amended, p. 466, � 6, effective January 1, 1999.