Witherspoon v. Illinois

Petitioner was adjudged guilty of murder and the jury fixed his penalty at death. An Illinois statute provided for challenges for cause in murder trials "of any juror who shall, on being examined, state that he has conscientious scruples against capital punishment, or that he is opposed to the same." At petitioner's trial the prosecution, under that statute, eliminated nearly half the venire of prospective jurors by challenging all who expressed qualms about the death penalty. Most of the veniremen thus challenged for cause were excluded with no effort to find out whether their scruples would invariably compel them to vote against capital punishment. The Illinois Supreme Court denied post-conviction relief.

Held:


 * 1. Neither on the basis of the record in this case nor as a matter of judicial notice of presently available information can it be concluded that the exclusion of jurors opposed to capital punishment results in an unrepresentative jury on the issue of guilt or substantially increases the risk of conviction. Pp. 516-518.


 * 2. Although it has not been shown that this jury was biased with respect to guilt, it is self-evident that, in its distinct role as arbiter of the punishment to be imposed, this jury fell woefully short of that impartiality to which a defendant is entitled under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. P. 518.


 * 3. A man who opposes the death penalty, no less than one who favors it, can make the discretionary choice of punishment entrusted to him by the State and can thus obey the oath he takes as a juror; but in a nation where so many have come to oppose capital punishment, a jury from which all such people have been excluded cannot perform the task demanded of it—that of expressing the conscience of the community on the ultimate question of life or death. P. 519.


 * 4. Just as a State may not entrust the determination of whether a man is innocent or guilty to a tribunal organized to convict, so it may not entrust the determination of whether a man should live or die to a tribunal organized to return a verdict of death; and no sentence of death can be carried out, regardless of when it was imposed, if the voir dire testimony indicates that the jury that imposed or recommended that sentence was chosen by excluding veniremen for cause simply because they voiced general objections to capital punishment or expressed conscientious or religious scruples against its infliction. Pp. 521-523.

36 Ill. 2d 471, 224 N.E. 2d 259, reversed.

Albert E. Jenner, Jr., argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs were Thomas P. Sullivan, Jerold S. Solovy, and John C. Tucker.

Donald J. Veverka, Assistant Attorney General, argued the cause for respondent State of Illinois. With him on the brief were William G. Clark, Attorney General, and John J. O'Toole, Assistant Attorney General. James B. Zagel argued the cause for respondent Woods, pro hac vice. With him on the brief were John J. Stamos, Elmer C. Kissane, and Joel Flaum.

Robert R. Granucci, Deputy Attorney General, argued the cause for the State of California, as amicus curiae. With him on the brief were Thomas C. Lynch, Attorney General, Albert W. Harris, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, and George R. Nock; Deputy Attorney General, joined by the Attorneys General for their respective States as follows: MacDonald Gallion of Alabama, Darrell F. Smith of Arizona, Joe Purcell of Arkansas, Duke W. Dunbar of Colorado, David P. Buckson of Delaware, Earl Faircloth of Florida, Arthur K. Bolton of Georgia, Allan G. Shepard of Idaho, Robert C. Londerholm of Kansas, John B. Breckinridge of Kentucky, Jack P. F. Gremillion of Louisiana, Norman H. Anderson of Missouri, Clarence A. H. Meyer of Nebraska, George S. Pappagianis of New Hampshire, Boston E. Witt of New Mexico, Helgi Johanneson of North Dakota, William B. Saxbe of Ohio, G. T. Blankenship of Oklahoma, William C. Sennett of Pennsylvania, Daniel R. McLeod of South. Carolina, Frank L. Farrar of South Dakota, George F. McCanless of Tennessee, Crawford C. Martin of Texas, Robert Y. Button of Virginia, John J. O'Connell of Washington, and James E. Barrett of Wyoming; and by Marion O. Gordon, Assistant Attorney General of Georgia, Frank P. Lawley, Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania, Reno S. Harp III, Assistant Attorney General of Virginia, and Howard L. McFadden.

Briefs of amici curiae were filed by Elmer Gertz for the Illinois Division, American Civil Liberties Union; by Jack Greenberg, James M. Nabrit III, Michael Meltsner, Leroy D. Clark, Norman C. Amaker, and Charles S. Ralston for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., et al.; by Alex Elson, Willard J. Lassers, and Marvin Braiterman for the American Friends Service Committee et al.; by F. Lee Bailey, pro se; by Joel W. Westbrook for Turner, and by John P. Frank and John J. Flynn for Madden.