People v. Miller

Defendant has been convicted of murder and sentenced to imprisonment for life. He now claims that a challenge interposed to the juror De Forest upon the 'ground of actual bias should have been allowed. The attorney general in his brief sums up the evidence of the juror upon his voir dire examination; this summation is a fair one, and fully as favorable to the people as the circumstances justify: Upon examination the juror said: “That he had read newspaper accounts of the killing; had heard the matter discussed by persons, but did not know whether such persons assumed to know the facts or not, but they made certain statements which they said were true. He did not know whether such statements were true or not. From what he had heard and read he had formed an opinion rather unfavorable to defendant—that is, if what he had heard and read was true. He did not know deceased nor who the witnesses were. It would take a little evidence to remove the opinion he had. He had no reason to disbelieve the statements he had heard. The only impression he had about the case was a sort of impressionable opinion formed from the statements he had heard from others. If sworn as a juror he would try to…