Prior to trial a judge asked potential jurors if they had any reason–physical disability, language difficulties, religion beliefs, etc.–that may prevent them from effectively serving on a jury.
At least one juror (Juror 33) raised his hand.
The judge next conducted side-bar voir dire.
This is when each prospective juror meets with the judge, the prosecutor, and the defense attorney at the judge’s bench.
During this meeting the judge asked Juror 33 why he raised his hand earlier.
Juror 33 stated that he’s a Jehovah’s Witness and “We’re not supposed to like judge on other people. That’s just our religion.”
Following this conversation, the prosecutor moved to strike Juror 33 from the jury for cause.
When making her motion the prosecutor argued that Juror 33’s “religion and belief is–would make it hard for him to judge. It’s something jurors have to do. They have to make a judgment of guilty or not guilty.”
This satisfied the judge and Juror 33 was excused from the jury.
Those selected for the jury ultimately convicted the defendant and his lawyer appealed.
The lawyer argued that it was unlawful discrimination to dismiss Juror 33 based solely on his religion.
The Appeals Court agreed.
According to the Appeals Court,
Although not crystally clear, we think that while the prospective juror’s first sentence, “We’re not supposed to like judge on other people,” might well be nothing more than a description of a tenet of the prospective juror’s faith, his second sentence, “That’s just our religion,” indicates that he personally felt that he was bound by that tenet. Not only did he use the first person plural, referring to Jehovah’s Witnesses as “our religion,” which at least suggests that he was expressing what was not merely the view of the religion, but his own view, his use of the word “just” in this context indicates that he was expressing that he is bound by the tenet, and that the issue is, in his view, out of his hands. Consequently, we also conclude that no further inquiry at voir dire was required.
The full text of the slip opinion is attached.