United States v. Montgomery

MEMORANDUM **

(1) The district court did not abuse its discretion in conducting voir dire on the effect of pre-trial publicity. See United States v. Dischner, 974 F.2d 1502, 1522-23 (9th Cir.1992), overruled on other grounds by United States v. Morales, 108 F.3d 1031 (9th Cir.1997) (en banc). The court’s inquiry revealed that a limited number of jurors had been exposed to the publicity, and that few had formed opinions about the guilt of defendants. Cf. Silverthorne v. United States, 400 F.2d 627, 635-39 (9th Cir.1968) (holding that the district court should have engaged in a more detailed inquiry when pre-trial publicity was vast, a third of potential jurors had an opinion about the guilt of the defendant, and all jurors selected had been exposed to pretrial publicity). The voir dire was adequate to ensure a fundamentally fair trial. See Mu’Min v. Virginia, 500 U.S. 415, 424-26 , 111 S.Ct. 1899 , 114 L.Ed.2d 493 (1991).

(2) Juror No. 5 was not disqualified by implied bias because she did not have a relationship to the events in the case that would prevent “the average person” from “remaining] impartial in [her] deliberations under the circumstances.” Tinsley v. Borg, 895 F.2d…