Does a prospective juror's questionnaire reveal that they are deeply conflicted about whether they can ever personally vote to impose the death penalty?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Zaragoza, 1 Cal.5th 21, 204 Cal.Rptr.3d 131, 374 P.3d 344 (Cal. 2016):

People v. Duff (2014) 58 Cal.4th 527, 167 Cal.Rptr.3d 615, 317 P.3d 1148 underscores this very point. There, a prospective juror's questionnaire revealed someone profoundly conflicted as to whether she could ever personally vote to impose the death penalty. (Id. at p. 541, 167 Cal.Rptr.3d 615, 317 P.3d 1148.) After identifying herself as Catholic, the juror stated that she did not believe she could send someone to his or her death, that she believed only God had the right to take away life, that the conflict between her beliefs and the efficacy of deterrence was one that she has not yet been able to

[204 Cal.Rptr.3d 150]

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