Senate Bill No. 273
(By Senators Mitchell and Kessler)
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[Introduced January 21, 2002; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article three,
chapter sixty-two of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
jury selection in felony cases; reducing the number of
jurors the accused may strike from six to four; increasing
the number of jurors the prosecution may strike from two to
four; and providing that the prosecuting attorney shall
strike the first juror with the parties alternating strikes
thereafter.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article three, chapter sixty-two of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. TRIAL OF CRIMINAL CASES.
§62-3-3. Selection of jury in felony cases; striking jurors;
alternate jurors.
In a case of felony, twenty jurors shall be drawn from those
in attendance for the trial of the accused. If a sufficient
number of jurors for such panel cannot be procured in this way,
the court shall order others to be forthwith summoned and
selected, until a panel of twenty jurors, free from exception,
be completed, from which panel the accused may strike off six
four jurors and the prosecuting attorney may strike off two
four jurors. The prosecuting attorney shall first strike off
two jurors, and then the accused six The prosecuting attorney
shall first strike one juror, and then the accused shall strike
one juror. Thereafter, each party shall alternately strike
another juror until four jurors have been struck by each party.
If the accused failed to strike from such panel the number of
jurors this section allows him or her to strike, the number not
stricken off by him or her shall be stricken off by the
prosecuting attorney, so as to reduce the panel to twelve, who
shall compose the jury for the trial of the case.
Whenever, in the opinion of the court the trial is likely
to be a protracted one, the court may direct that not more than
four jurors, in addition to the regular jury, be called and
impanelled to sit as alternate jurors. Alternate jurors in the order in which they are called shall replace jurors who, prior
to the time the jury retires to consider its verdict, become
unable or disqualified to perform their duties. Alternate
jurors shall be drawn in the same manner, shall have the same
qualifications, shall be subject to the same examination and
challenges, shall take the same oath and shall have the same
functions, powers, facilities and privileges as the regular
jurors. An alternate juror who does not replace a regular juror
shall be discharged after the jury retires to consider its
verdict. Each side is entitled to one peremptory challenge in
addition to those otherwise allowed by law if one or two
alternate jurors are to be impanelled, and two peremptory
challenges if three or four alternate jurors are to be
impanelled. The additional peremptory challenges may be used
against an alternate juror only, and the other peremptory
challenges allowed by this section may not be used against an
alternate juror.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
reduce the number of
jurors the accused may strike from six to four and increasing
the number of jurors the prosecution may strike from two to four
in a felony criminal trial. The bill also provides that the
prosecuting attorney shall strike the first juror with the parties alternating strikes thereafter.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.