State v. Mercer

I respectfully dissent and for reasons stated below, I would reverse and remand this cause.

I

I cannot agree with the principal opinion’s treatment of appellant’s objection to the striking for cause of venireman Bum-garner under Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 20 L.Ed.2d 776 (1968). The principal opinion found that Bumgarner had made it “unmistakably clear” that he would not impose the death penalty under any circumstance. In Witherspoon, supra at 516 n. 9, 88 S.Ct. at 1774 n. 9, the Court required that

Unless an venireman states unambiguously that he would automatically…