Free Report - District Court of Colorado - Colorado

Case 1:00-cr-00531-WYD

Document 1919-2

Filed 09/19/2006

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO Case Number 1:00-cr-00531-WYD UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. WILLIAM CONCEPCION SABLAN, Defendant. ______________________________________________________________________________ MEMORANDUM REGARDING PROPOSED JURY SELECTION PROCEDURES ______________________________________________________________________________ Mr. Sablan submits the following Memorandum outlining proposed procedures for use during jury selection. 1. At least 200 potential jurors should be summoned to appear on January 16, 2007.

At their first appearance the jurors should receive introductory remarks from the court1 explaining the case and trial procedures. All prospective jurors should be sworn at that time so the answers to their written questionnaires are under an oath of record. All jurors should also at that time receive detailed and comprehensive admonitory instructions from the court concerning the duties of the jurors during jury selection. 2. On January 16th, the Court should also give its introductory remarks about the

jury selection process, and the nature of a capital trial. Additionally, counsel for both sides

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Mr. Sablan's counsel will draft proposed introductory remarks to submit to the court for its consideration.

Case 1:00-cr-00531-WYD

Document 1919-2

Filed 09/19/2006

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should be allowed time to give introductory educational remarks to the entire panel. This initial educational process will provide the jurors with information they can ponder while completing their questionnaires and before they return for individual voir dire, and will give them some time to think about their feelings about the death penalty, and to think about the court procedures and their roles in such a case. The more thought the jurors have given the process before

questioning, the easier and more enlightening the individual questioning will be. 3. Juror questionnaires should be filled out at this time on January 16, 2007. Mr.

Sablan will propose a questionnaire. The prospective jurors should also indicate any alleged hardships at this time. After they complete their written questionnaires in court under oath, they should be sent home, under strict admonitory instructions. 4. Allowing several days, from the date questionnaires are completed before

beginning the oral jury selection process on January 22, 2007, will allow all counsel adequate time to obtain copies of all questionnaires, and to digest the information in the questionnaires before the beginning of verbal questioning. This time lapse will allow counsel to be prepared with the information, maximizing its use, and minimizing the time necessary for juror questioning. 5. On January 16, 2007, the court clerk should perform a random drawing of names

from the jury pool to determine the order of questioning of individual jurors. Jurors should not be informed of the order until they return from the recess on January 22, 2007. This random drawing prior to the recess will allow counsel to allocate their time so that they can prepare for the jurors in the order they will be questioned. 6. On the morning of January 22nd, when the jurors return from the recess, the court

and counsel should consider hardship complaints, with individual questioning in the court's

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Case 1:00-cr-00531-WYD

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chambers of all jurors who claim grounds for a hardship excusal. The parties should meet with the Court in advance of the jurors' return on January 22nd to discuss which jurors should be questioned regarding hardship complaints. 7. After hardship excusals, the remaining jurors should be informed of the order they

will be called to be individually questioned on the issues of the death penalty. The order of questioning is that established by the previously performed random drawing of all jurors' names. The jurors should be divided, by that random order, into groups of 15 to 20, for purposes of having each group report to the courtroom at a specific date and time for individually sequestered voir dire. When each group of 15-20 prospective jurors is decided upon, each group can remain in the courtroom, under strict admonitory instructions, while jurors are called into the court's chambers and questioned individually. 8. The prosecution and the defense should alternate with each side taking turns

doing the initial questioning of jurors during individually sequestered voir dire. All questioning should be done out of the presence of the other jurors. All challenges for bias issues should be done in this individually sequestered questioning. All challenges and discussions relating to those challenges should be done outside of the presence of the prospective jurors. 9. Each juror should be free to leave after his or her individual questioning, and be

told, under strict and comprehensive admonitory instructions, to return at a given date and time, when general voir dire will commence. 10. When there are a sufficient number of jurors who remain after individual

questioning, the remaining jurors can be excused. 11. Thereafter, for purposes of general voir dire, the court clerk should perform a

second random drawing to determine the order in which the qualified jurors will be called to the

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Case 1:00-cr-00531-WYD

Document 1919-2

Filed 09/19/2006

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jury box. This should be done outside the jurors' presence, before the panel is called into the courtroom. This random drawing of juror order will inform counsel and the court of the order of all the potential jurors. When the panel appears in the courtroom, the court should inform them that their names have been drawn in a random order to be seated in the jury box. The court should at that time give the jurors additional instructions on the upcoming procedures. At that time, sixteen jurors should be called to the box [including four alternates] for general panel voir dire. Although counsel should be told which seats are the alternate juror seats, the jurors should not be informed of that status, to ensure that all of the sixteen take their jobs as seriously as possible. Complete general voir dire should then proceed, at which stage the parties would exercise their peremptory challenges. 12. The above detailed procedures have been, for the most part, followed in other

capital jury trials and seem to work well. Dated: September 19, 2006 Respectfully submitted, /s/ Patrick J. Burke Patrick J. Burke Patrick J. Burke, P.C. 1660 Wynkoop Street, Suite 810 Denver, CO 80202 (303) 825-3050 Susan L. Foreman, Attorney 1660 Wynkoop Street, Suite 810 Denver, CO 80202 (303) 825-3050 Nathan D. Chambers Chambers Dansky & Mulvahill, P.C. 1601 Blake Street, Suite 300 Denver, CO 80202 (303) 825-2222

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