NCJ Number
105415
Journal
Creighton Law Review Volume: 20 Issue: 1 Dated: (1986-1987) Pages: 247-269
Date Published
1987
Length
23 pages
Annotation
In Lockhart v. McCree, the U.S. Supreme Court held that that a predisposition against the death penalty could be used to exclude a venireperson from a jury.
Abstract
In this decision, the Court ignored the question of whether death-qualified jury is conviction-prone and whether the State has a legitimate interest in having a single jury decide on both conviction and sentencing. Because death-qualified juries are more conviction-prone and because potential jurors who are absolutely opposed to capital punishment may not be impartial in determinations of guilt, a new standard is proposed. Under this Standard, jurors could not be challenged for cause based upon views about the death penalty unless those views would prevent or substantially impair the performance of their duties in accordance with the instructions and oath. This new standard would be applied to jurors individually and equally both in the guilt-determination and the sentencing phases of the trial. 232 footnotes.