Free Other Notice - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

PAUL K. CHARLTON United States Attorney District of Arizona GREGORY J. FOURATT Special Assistant U.S. Attorney NM Bar No. 9209 40 N. Central Avenue, Suite 1200 Phoenix, Arizona 85004-4408 Telephone: (602) 514-7500

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF ARIZONA United States of America, CR-03-730-PHX-SRB Plaintiff, v. NOTICE OF UNITED STATES' COMMENTS AND OBJECTIONS TO PROPOSED JURY QUESTIONNAIRE Defendants.

8 9 10 Luis A. Cisneros, et al., 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

The United States respectfully offers the following comments and objections to the Court's proposed jury questionnaire. Proposed New Question 14A: The United States requests that the Court ask the prospective jurors: "Have you or has any member of your family or a close friend ever belonged to a prisoner's rights organization or any organization that advocates for the perceived rights of accused criminals (ie. ACLU)?" This question would serve the same general purposes as current Question 14 in terms of helping to identify prospective jurors who have affiliations with organizations that could be viewed as favoring one side or another of this case. Question 29: The United States requests that the Court provide the prospective juror with a selection of "About the right amount." Proposed New Question 32A: The United States requests that the Court ask the prospective jurors: "Do you have relatives, friends, acquaintances, or regular contact with people who are Caucasian?" This question would be especially applicable to prospective jurors who are not Caucasian and would serve the same purposes as Questions 30-32 in terms of helping to unmask any racial biases or prejudices of the prospective juror.

Case 2:03-cr-00730-SRB

Document 1367

Filed 11/16/2005

Page 1 of 3

1

Question 33: The United States requests that the Court add to the end of Question 33 the

2 following clause: "in which the person's race was a cause of the negative encounter?" 3 Question 42: The United States requests that the Court add to the end of the first possible

4 answer the following clause: "and I would always vote for the death penalty in such a case 5 regardless of the circumstances of the specific case." 6 Question 46: The United States requests that the Court add the phrase "follow the law"

7 to each of the possible answers (ie. "I feel that my support of the death penalty will make it 8 difficult for me to follow the law and perform my duty as a juror..."). 9 Question 49: This question contains an inaccurate statement of the law. The government

10 is not required to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt that the death penalty, rather than life 11 imprisonment without the possibility of release, is the appropriate sentence." Instead, 18 U.S.C. 12 3593(e) leaves to the jury to "consider whether all the aggravating factor or factors found to exist 13 sufficiently outweigh all the mitigating factor or factors found to exist to justify a sentence of 14 death[.]" (emphasis added). Although the United States must prove the existence of any 15 aggravating factor beyond a reasonable doubt, there is no burden of proof in the statute for how 16 the jury decides the question of life or death once the aggravating factor has been found to exist. 17 Indeed, on page 15 of the questionnaire, the Court properly instructs the jurors about the nature 18 of the jury's task at the sentencing stage. Consequently, it is a more accurate statement of the 19 law for the Court to explain to the jurors in Question 49 that "the government must establish that 20 the death penalty, rather than life imprisonment without the possibility of release, is the 21 appropriate sentence." 22 23 Question 51: This question is essentially duplicative of Question 48. Addition to List of Names: the United States requests that the Court add the name of

24 Amparo Rodriguez to the list of civilians. 25 26 27 28

Case 2:03-cr-00730-SRB

Document 1367

Filed 11/16/2005

Page 2 of 3

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Respectfully submitted this 16th day of November, 2005 PAUL K. CHARLTON United States Attorney District of Arizona
S/ GREGORY J. FOURATT

GREGORY J. FOURATT Special Assistant U.S. Attorney
I hereby certify that on November 16, 2005 I electronically transmitted the foregoing document to the Clerk's Office using the CM/ECF System for filing and transmittal of a Notice of Electronic Filing to all defense counsel in this case.

Case 2:03-cr-00730-SRB

Document 1367

Filed 11/16/2005

Page 3 of 3