WILLIAM ISIAH JOHNSON, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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In this direct criminal appeal, Johnson challenged the trial court's denial of his motion to strike the entire venire after a prospective juror's comment suggested Johnson might be a prisoner. The appellate court affirmed, holding that Johnson failed to preserve the issue for appeal by not renewing his motion before the jury was sworn.
The trial court's ruling on the motion to strike was not properly preserved for appeal because defendant failed to renew the motion or objection before the jury was sworn. Therefore, the court did not reach the merits of the abuse of discretion claim and affirmed based on lack of preservation.
[1] A claim that a trial court abused its discretion in denying a motion to strike the entire venire is not preserved for appeal if the motion is not renewed after jury selec…
[2] A party must renew and preserve an objection to a potential juror or a motion to strike the venire before the jury is sworn to preserve the issue for appeal.
Previewing 2 of 3 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“preservation of a challenge to a potential juror requires more than one objection, and the objecting party must renew and preserve the objection before the jury is sworn”
Establishes the procedural requirement that a motion to strike the venire must be renewed before jury is sworn to be preserved for appeal
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceDuring voir dire, a prospective juror who worked for the road department stated he thought he might have seen the defendant before, implying possible …
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In this direct criminal appeal, appellant claims the trial court abused its discretion when it denied his motion to strike the entire venire after a potential juror commented about appellant’s criminal history. Because this claim was not properly preserved for appeal, we affirm.
During voir dire, the prosecutor asked, “Is there anything that has come up about anything I’ve asked you that you think we need to know about?” A prospective juror responded:
PROSPECTIVE JUROR: I work for the road department and we work with prisoners all the time, and I don’t — I thought I’ve seen him before but I don’t really know.
[PROSECUTOR]: You might have seen the defendant?
PROSPECTIVE JUROR: Yeah.
Defense counsel then approached the bench and requested the trial court to strike the entire venire on the ground the prospective juror’s comment “puts it in the jury’s mind, potentially in the panel’s mind that [appellant] is a convicted felon or at least been incarcerated or imprisoned.” The prosecutor opposed the request, arguing the juror could have meant that he worked with appellant or had seen him along the road, not necessarily that appellant was a prisoner. The trial court denied appellant’s motion, reasoning the comment was not “significant enough to have infected the panel.” At the conclu*699sion of jury selection, six jurors and two alternates were selected without objection. Later, the jury was sworn without objection.
On appeal, appellant claims the trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion to strike the venire after the potential juror indicated he might have recognized appellant as a prisoner through his employment with the road department, citing Turner v. State, 51 So.3d 542, 543 (Fla. 5th DCA 2010), and Richardson v. State, 666 So.2d 223, 224 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995). The state correctly responds that this claim is not preserved for appeal because appellant’s motion was not renewed once jury selection was complete or before the jury was sworn. See McPhee v. State, 117 So.3d 1137, 1138 (Fla. 3d DCA 2012) (citing Carratelli v. State, 961 So.2d 312 (Fla.2007), for the proposition that preservation of a challenge to a potential juror requires more than one objection, and the objecting party must renew and preserve the objection before the jury is sworn); Hayes v. State, 954 So.2d 1265, 1266 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007) (holding that although defendant did not formally accept the jury panel, defendant failed to preserve his claim that the trial court should have granted his motion to strike the entire venire where he failed to renew his objection or motion to strike prior to the jury being sworn). Thus, we affirm due to the lack of preservation.
AFFIRMED.
ROBERTS and RAY, JJ., concur.
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Citator
Authorities Cited
- Carratelli v. State, 961 So. 2d 312 (Fla. 2007)
- Richardson v. State, 666 So. 2d 223 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995)
- McPHEE v. State, 117 So. 3d 1137 (Fla. 3d DCA 2012)
- Hayes v. State, 954 So. 2d 1265 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007)
- Turner v. State, 51 So. 3d 542 (Fla. 5th DCA 2010)