People v. Williams

This defendant challenges the long-standing rule that prohibits voir dire from being conducted as a means to uncover bases for peremptory challenges. (People v. Edwards (1912) 163 Cal. 752, 753 [ 127 P. 58 ].) Like a moss-covered oak, the doctrine has seemed sturdy because of its venerable age, but we have only to examine its shallow roots and hollow substance to realize that it is precariously poised, ready to topple at the first challenging blow.

I

In the early morning hours of February 21, 1978, defendant Williams fatally shot a drinking companion, Travis King. Earlier in the evening, the two men had been arrested after a fight on a freeway ramp. Both men appeared intoxicated. After King was released from jail, he went to defendant’s house to retrieve his car. King told defendant’s son he wanted to talk to defendant; he followed the son to the bedroom in which defendant had been sleeping with his one-year-old grandson. When defendant told his son that he was asleep and did not desire to talk to anyone, King pounded on the door, shouted obscenities, and demanded that defendant come out to fight. The door opened, a struggle ensued, and King was shot.

Defendant was…

Voir dire should not be limited solely to questions involving challenges for cause. The former limitation on voir dire was án unwarranted restriction on an accused’s right to a jury composed of impartial individuals. Further, it was unworkable in practice. Trial courts throughout the state differed widely in their application of the rule, some using it as a justification for sharply curtailing voir dire, others reading it broadly to allow extensive questioning of potential jurors.

However, if this court is to scrap the old rule, we should not replace it with a new standard which is more difficult to apply than its predecessor. That is exactly what the majority have done. They state that *413 voir dire must be allowed “at least” into “‘matters concerning which either the local community or the population at large is commonly known to harbor strong feelings that may stop short of presumptive bias in law yet significantly skew deliberations in fact.’” (Majority opn., ante, at p. 408, quoting United States v. Robinson (D.C.Cir. 1973) 475 F.2d 376, 381 .) Exactly what does that mean?

I submit that this new guideline will be no easier to apply in a uniform manner in practice than the…

I have no quarrel with the efforts of my colleagues of the majority as they seek to articulate a broad rule which would permit counsel “to ask questions reasonably designed to assist in the intelligent exercise of peremptory challenges ...” (ante, *415 p. 407), and to preserve considerable discretion of “the trial court to contain voir dire within reasonable limits.” (Ibid.) Similarly, I agree with my colleague of the concurrence who points to the lack of specificity of the proposed new standard and the broad generality of the analysis and test advanced in extended fashion by the majority. I take no issue with my colleague’s efforts in this direction because it is my belief and observation that this is exactly what trial courts in the area of voir dire examination have been doing for years.

I respectfully dissent, however, from the majority’s conclusion that, assuming the trial court erred in unduly restricting the voir dire questioning, such error was so prejudicial as to warrant a reversal of the judgment.

The majority attempts to justify its reversal of the judgment by relying upon cases wherein the defendant has been deprived of an impartial jury. (E.g., People v. Wheeler…

This defendant challenges the long-standing rule that prohibits voir dire from being conducted as a means to uncover bases for peremptory challenges. ( People v. Edwards (1912) 163 Cal. 752, 753 [ 127 P. 58 ].) Like a moss-covered oak, the doctrine has seemed sturdy because of its venerable age, but we have only to examine its shallow roots and hollow substance to realize that it is precariously poised, ready to topple at the first challenging blow.

In the early morning hours of February 21, 1978, defendant Williams fatally shot a drinking companion, Travis King. Earlier in the evening, the two men had been arrested after a fight on a freeway ramp. Both men appeared intoxicated. After King was released from jail, he went to defendant's house to retrieve his car. King told defendant's son he wanted to talk to defendant; he followed the son to the bedroom in which defendant had been sleeping with his one-year-old grandson. When defendant told his son that he was asleep and did not desire to talk to anyone, King pounded on the door, shouted obscenities, and demanded that defendant come out to fight. The door opened, a struggle ensued, and King was shot.

Defendant…