State v. Irby

¶22 (dissenting) — The majority treats the routine process used for excusing several potential jurors in this case as a critical stage of a criminal trial. However, a trial court has broad discretion to excuse jurors for a range of valid reasons having nothing to do with the defendant’s case. Numerous decisions from the United States Supreme Court, other federal courts, and state courts show that the process of excusing potential jurors for personal reasons such as hardship is distinct from voir dire (when potential jurors are introduced to the substantive legal and factual issues of a…