In the case of Indiana v. Black, the defendant was charged with murder, and planned to raise a self-defense argument. During voir dire, the judge prevented defense counsel from asking prospective jurors “Do you believe in self-defense?” At trial, the defendant testified that he acted in self-defense, and counsel incorporated self-defense into the closing argument. After Black was convicted, he appealed on the grounds that voir dire had been improperly restricted. A three-judge panel of the Indiana Court of Appeals unanimously agreed, finding the voir dire limit to be plain error.
The appellate court’s decision seems clearly correct. Some people have moral objections to self-defense, and wish to impose their morality on other people. (That’s one reason why many anti-gun groups say that it is alright for people to possess guns for sport, but not for self-defense.) A defendant who claims to have acted in self-defense obviously could not receive a fair trial from a jury which included members who would not follow Indiana law regarding self-defense, but would instead refuse to consider self-defense as a legal justification or excuse. Accordingly, the voir dire process should have been available to disqualify such jurors.
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