Amy
04-16-2004, 07:57 AM
Death row inmate says improper jury selection affected verdict in 1998
By Jack Elliott Jr.
The Associated Press
The Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday rejected death row inmate Kelvin Dycus' claims of problems with the jury selection in his 1998 trial and upheld his capital murder conviction.
Dycus was sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of an elderly Rosedale woman. Prosecutors said Dycus and his brother, William Jason Dycus, entered the Bolivar County home of neighbor Mary Lee Pittman and beat, shot and robbed the 76-year-old woman.
William Jason Dycus was sentenced to life in prison in a separate trial.
In arguments before the Supreme Court in 2002, Dycus' attorneys said Circuit Judge Kenneth L. Thomas wrongly dismissed a potential juror for her death penalty views. Also, a man was allowed to remain on the jury after disclosing that he knew the victim's sister, the defense said.
The attorney general's office said the jury was appropriately seated.
The Supreme Court agreed in 7-0 decision.
According to the court record, Thomas dismissed a potential juror who had said she would probably prefer a sentence of life without parole over the death penalty. Dycus argued that a juror's opinion of the death penalty is not enough to dismiss that juror.
Prosecutors said factors that kept the woman off the jury included that she worked as a compliance officer at a state penitentiary, had pleaded hardship when told the jury would be sequestered and gave contradictory answers when asked about the death penalty.
Justice James E. Graves, writing Thursday for the court, said a juror's position on the death penalty must be unmistakably clear, or a trial judge may properly remove them for cause.
Graves said if a prospective juror provides inconsistent answers regarding their feelings on the law, they can be kept off the jury.
"Such a strike is allowed because there is a compelling state interest in jurors upholding the laws of Mississippi," Graves said.
Dycus also had argued that a person who did make the jury should have been dismissed after it was learned the juror had known the victim's sister for several years.
Prosecutors said the juror did not know he had any connection to the victim and told the judge when he realized it. He also said his association with the sister would not influence him as a juror, according to prosecutors.
Graves said the juror only knew the victim's sister from seeing her at church.
"The trial judge was wholly correct in not allowing the strike of a juror who once attended church with the victim's sister and who did not even know her name," Graves said. The court record showed that on Sept. 24, 1996, Pittman answered her door and was struck in the face and head. She was pulled to a back room by a rope tied around her body and struck in the head with a lamp.
Her body was found in the living room with gunshot wounds to her head and wrist.
Dycus and his family lived across the street from Pittman. He and his brother were arrested later that day driving her car.
Source: The Clarion Ledger online http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040416/NEWS01/404160331/1002 (http://65.54.184.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=a144572cf52521916dab9724277c0279&lat=1082119396&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2eclarionledger%2ecom %2fapps%2fpbcs%2edll%2farticle%3fAID%3d%2f20040416 %2fNEWS01%2f404160331%2f1002)
By Jack Elliott Jr.
The Associated Press
The Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday rejected death row inmate Kelvin Dycus' claims of problems with the jury selection in his 1998 trial and upheld his capital murder conviction.
Dycus was sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of an elderly Rosedale woman. Prosecutors said Dycus and his brother, William Jason Dycus, entered the Bolivar County home of neighbor Mary Lee Pittman and beat, shot and robbed the 76-year-old woman.
William Jason Dycus was sentenced to life in prison in a separate trial.
In arguments before the Supreme Court in 2002, Dycus' attorneys said Circuit Judge Kenneth L. Thomas wrongly dismissed a potential juror for her death penalty views. Also, a man was allowed to remain on the jury after disclosing that he knew the victim's sister, the defense said.
The attorney general's office said the jury was appropriately seated.
The Supreme Court agreed in 7-0 decision.
According to the court record, Thomas dismissed a potential juror who had said she would probably prefer a sentence of life without parole over the death penalty. Dycus argued that a juror's opinion of the death penalty is not enough to dismiss that juror.
Prosecutors said factors that kept the woman off the jury included that she worked as a compliance officer at a state penitentiary, had pleaded hardship when told the jury would be sequestered and gave contradictory answers when asked about the death penalty.
Justice James E. Graves, writing Thursday for the court, said a juror's position on the death penalty must be unmistakably clear, or a trial judge may properly remove them for cause.
Graves said if a prospective juror provides inconsistent answers regarding their feelings on the law, they can be kept off the jury.
"Such a strike is allowed because there is a compelling state interest in jurors upholding the laws of Mississippi," Graves said.
Dycus also had argued that a person who did make the jury should have been dismissed after it was learned the juror had known the victim's sister for several years.
Prosecutors said the juror did not know he had any connection to the victim and told the judge when he realized it. He also said his association with the sister would not influence him as a juror, according to prosecutors.
Graves said the juror only knew the victim's sister from seeing her at church.
"The trial judge was wholly correct in not allowing the strike of a juror who once attended church with the victim's sister and who did not even know her name," Graves said. The court record showed that on Sept. 24, 1996, Pittman answered her door and was struck in the face and head. She was pulled to a back room by a rope tied around her body and struck in the head with a lamp.
Her body was found in the living room with gunshot wounds to her head and wrist.
Dycus and his family lived across the street from Pittman. He and his brother were arrested later that day driving her car.
Source: The Clarion Ledger online http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040416/NEWS01/404160331/1002 (http://65.54.184.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=a144572cf52521916dab9724277c0279&lat=1082119396&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2eclarionledger%2ecom %2fapps%2fpbcs%2edll%2farticle%3fAID%3d%2f20040416 %2fNEWS01%2f404160331%2f1002)