Challenges for Cause in Criminal Trials
| Publication year | 1983 |
| Pages | 1799 |
1983, November, Pg. 1799. Challenges for Cause in Criminal Trials
Effective July 1, 1981, preemptory challenges in criminal cases were reduced by statute from ten to five,(fn1) and the Colorado Rules of Criminal Procedure were amended to reflect the same change effective July 16, 1981.(fn2) As a result of the drastic reduction of peremptory challenges, the challenge for cause in criminal cases has taken on new significance. The purpose of this article is to give a brief overview of the challenge for cause.
Grounds for challenge for cause are established by statute and rule of court. In Colorado, the statute and the applicable rule of criminal procedure are virtually identical. C.R.S. 1973, § 16-10-103 and C.R.Crim.P. Rule 24(b) provide that the court shall sustain a challenge for cause on one or more of eleven grounds.
Although the statute lists eleven different grounds, virtually all recent cases involve only two areas of challenges: (1) the juror is a lawyer or a compensated employee of a public law enforcement agency;(fn3) and (2) the existence of a state of mind in the juror evincing enmity or bias toward the defendant or the state.(fn4)
Surprisingly, one of the most litigated challenges for cause is the one available with respect to a juror who is a compensated employee of a public law enforcement agency. The Colorado appellate courts have therefore had occasion to determine that a counselor and a baker employed at the Colorado State Penitentiary come within the ambit of the challenge for cause on a compensated employee of a public law enforcement agency, but a retired guard at the penitentiary does not.(fn5)
The courts further decided that a security guard, employed by the state of Colorado at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, whose job involved opening doors at night for law enforcement officers was subject to challenge for cause.(fn6) Similarly, a mechanic employed by the City and County of Denver who worked in the police garage was also subject to the challenge.(fn7)
Not surprisingly, the other area of litigated challenges deals with the challenge for bias. Historically, this challenge for cause has been the most troublesome to apply. Until recently, the trial courts were guided by an 1896 case which provided that...
To continue reading
Request your trial