Have no idea what happened, but suspect it was due to jury selection procedure. So could for once Judge Perry be wrong and the defense right?
Ironically named, Perry v. State, 675 So. 2d 976 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996), might hold the answer.
We find that the court did abuse its discretion in this case when it terminated voir dire before defense counsel had an opportunity to question all of the jurors individually. A number of factors have led us to this conclusion.
First, this was a capital case, and thus involved twice the usual number of jurors.
Second, it was the type of case which could generate unusual emotional reactions from jurors because of the senselessness of the killing and the ages of the participants.
Third, the number of jurors (forty-five) from which the selection was being made was large.
Fourth, exercising more than the seven peremptory challenges the defense did use would have resulted in the possibility of jurors being seated who had not been reached by defendant for individual questioning.
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