Violations of state laws spelling out how jury pools must be selected and requiring that jurors in death penalty trials be sequestered have resulted in the Tennessee Supreme Court ordering a new trial for Pat Bondurant, sentenced to death for the 1986 Maury County murder of William Ronnie Gaines.
Writing for a unanimous court, Justice Frank Drowota said a new trial is required because “the statutory procedures governing selection of a special jury venire were totally disregarded and the jury, which was required by law to remain sequestered, was allowed to separate twice daily to drive between their lodgings and the courthouse.” In light of the clear proof of serious errors, the court was “bewildered” by the fact that the prosecution offered no proof to show the errors were harmless.
The error in jury selection occurred when 25 of the 60 potential jurors initially summoned were disqualified only hours after jury selection began. The trial court judge directed the court clerk to summon additional jurors by telephone and instruct them to report to court the next day. This procedure was not one of the three options outlined by law.
In reversing Bondurant’s conviction, the court said “jury selection procedures are intended to protect the integrity of the jury system by providing a uniform and ordered method” of selection and explained that the erroneous procedure “impugned the integrity of the jury system.” The court emphasized that, “in serious and highly publicized capital murder trials, such as this one, meticulous and conscientious adherence to the statutory jury selection procedures is particularly important.”
Although jurors were required to be sequestered at the time of Bondurant’s trial, the jurors were allowed to drive their personal automobiles twice daily from the hotel to the courthouse. The court officer responsible for supervising the jury stated in an affidavit that he had no control over the jurors during this time. Addressing this issue, Drowota wrote, “[g]iven the fact that the General Assembly has mandated sequestration of jurors in capital cases, we take this opportunity to urge trial judges to use all available measures to comply with this legislative mandate.”
The court noted that Bondurant’s trial was highly publicized and reversed the conviction upon finding a great risk “that jurors were influenced by extraneous information or based their decision on facts that were not developed at trial.” The court said, “... if trial courts will fastidiously enforce compliance with the procedural protections designed to eliminate prejudice at its inception, the errors which require reversal in this case will not arise again.”
In another capital case, the court rejected a petition for rehearing filed by death row inmate Donald Wayne Strouth. In June, the court also denied a post-conviction appeal by Strouth, who was sentenced to death for the 1978 murder of Kingsport merchant James Keegan.