THE CHALLENGE TO A JUROR WHO SAID HE WOULD FAVOR THE TESTIMONY OF THE POLICE SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED (SECOND DEPT). ​

The Second Department, reversing defendant’s conviction and ordering a new trial, determined the challenge to a juror who said he would favor the police testimony should have been granted:

… [D]uring voir dire, one prospective juror, a firefighter who worked in the neighborhood where the offenses occurred, told the Supreme Court that he “personally see[s] a lot that goes on in the area[ ].” While he initially indicated that he could be fair and impartial, he subsequently stated that the police in the neighborhood “defended us, stuck up for us,” and added that he would “lean a little bit more to what [a police officer] had to say” and it would be “tough” for him not to credit police officer testimony because he had “seen it” himself. Although, when he was questioned by the court, he indicated that he would treat police officers’ testimony the same as the testimony of civilian witnesses, when asked whether he was “retracting” what he had said about “favoring police testimony,” he did not answer in the affirmative. Instead, he stated that he would evaluate police testimony based on what he had experienced.

Thus, at no point did the prospective juror provide “‘an unequivocal assurance’ that [he] could ‘set aside any bias and render an impartial verdict based on the evidence'” … . Since the defendant exercised a peremptory challenge to remove the prospective juror and exhausted his allotment of peremptory challenges prior to the completion of jury selection, the judgment of conviction must be reversed and a new trial ordered … . People v Thomas, 2021 NY Slip Op 06711, Second Dept 12-1-21